The ventral pallidum (VP) plays a critical role in the processing and execution of motivated
behaviors. Yet this brain region is often overlooked in published discussions of the …

Tobacco smoking continues to be a major global health hazard despite significant public
awareness of its harmful consequences. Although several treatment options are currently …

Rationale Glutamate and orexin/hypocretin systems are involved in Pavlovian cue-triggered
drug seeking. Objectives Here, we asked whether orexin and glutamate interact within …

The mesolimbic dopamine system comprises distinct compartments supporting different
functions in learning and motivation. Less well understood is how complex addiction-related …

Drug abuse and addiction cause widespread social and public health problems, and the
neurobiology underlying drug actions and drug use and abuse is an area of intensive …

Medication development for cocaine-addicted patients is difficult, and many promising
preclinical candidates have failed in clinical trials. One reason for the difficulty in translating …

Alterations in glutamatergic neurotransmission have been suggested to affect many aspects
of neuroplasticity associated with alcohol/drug addiction. We have previously shown that …

The actions of dopamine are essential to relapse to drug seeking but we still lack a precise
understanding of how dopamine achieves these effects. Here we review recent advances …

The addictive properties of psychostimulants such as cocaine are rooted in their ability to
activate the mesocorticolimbic dopamine (DA) system. This system consists primarily of …

Abstract Psychostimulant Use Disorder (PUD) is a chronic relapsing disorder with high
motivation for drug abuse. In addition to developing PUD, the use of psychostimulants is a …