Intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) is a behavioral procedure in which operant responding is
maintained by pulses of electrical brain stimulation. In research to study abuse-related drug …

New psychoactive substances (NPS) are a heterogeneous and rapidly evolving class of
molecules available on the global illicit drug market (eg smart shops, internet,“dark net”) as a …

Spice drugs are herbal mixtures sprayed with synthetic cannabinoids designed to mimic the
psychoactive ingredient in marijuana [Δ 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ 9-THC)] and synthesized …

Motivational and attentional processes energize action sequences to facilitate evolutionary
competition and promote behavioral fitness. Decades of neuropharmacology …

Rationale The reinforcing effects of most abused drugs have been consistently
demonstrated and studied in animal models, although those of marijuana were not, until the …

Synthetic cannabinoids were introduced into recreational drug culture in 2008 and quickly
became one of the most commonly abused drugs in the United States. The neurobiological …

Background Synthetic cannabinoids have emerged as a significant public health concern.
To increase the knowledge of how these molecules interact on brain reward processes, we …

The abuse potential of opioid analgesics in humans appears to increase rapidly during
initial regimens of opioid exposure. Previous work using intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) …

Background: The endocannabinoid system interacts extensively with other neurotransmitter
systems and has been implicated in a variety of functions, including regulation of basal …

In the last decade the trend of drug consumption has completely changed and the “classical”
drugs of abuse, such as opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, and lysergic acid …