Glutamate homeostasis in biological vulnerability to drug addiction and relapse

Chronic stress, drug use, and vulnerability to addiction.

Stress is a well-known risk factor in the development of addiction and in addiction relapse vulnerability. A series of population-based and epidemiological studies have identified specific stressors and individual-level variables that are predictive of substance use and abuse. Preclinical research also shows that stress exposure enhances drug self-administration and reinstates drug seeking in d...

Biological Vulnerability to Drug Abuse, 89

The Nucleus Accumbens: Mechanisms of Addiction across Drug Classes Reflect the Importance of Glutamate Homeostasis.

The nucleus accumbens is a major input structure of the basal ganglia and integrates information from cortical and limbic structures to mediate goal-directed behaviors. Chronic exposure to several classes of drugs of abuse disrupts plasticity in this region, allowing drug-associated cues to engender a pathologic motivation for drug seeking. A number of alterations in glutamatergic transmission ...

Is biological aging accelerated in drug addiction?

Drug-addiction may trigger early onset of age-related disease, due to drug-induced multi-system toxicity and perilous lifestyle, which remains mostly undetected and untreated. We present the literature on pathophysiological processes that may hasten aging and its relevance to addiction, including: oxidative stress and cellular aging, inflammation in periphery and brain, decline in brain volume ...

survival analysis of drug abuse relapse in addiction treatment centers

conclusions in the initial treatment, it seems necessary to supervise and monitor the treatment process through staff in addiction treatment centers together with the company of the addicts’ families to reduce relapse rate. results the relapse rate was 30.42%, mean and median of the time to relapse (survival time) were 27.40 ± 1.63 months (ci 95%: 24.19 - 30.60) and 25 ± 2.25 months (ci 95%: 22...