Insights for Developing Pharmacological Treatments for Psychostimulant Relapse Targeting Hypothalamic Peptide Systems
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چکیده
The last two decades have seen significant advances in our understanding of the brain circuitry and molecular changes that drive the addiction process. However, relapse to drug taking continues to represent a significant impediment to the successful treatment of addiction. Indeed, treatment options such as effective pharmacotherapies are lacking, particularly in the case of psychostimulant addiction [2]. Despite significant recent progress, it is likely that the lack of pharmaceutical options to treat this phase of the addiction cycle is in part due to the inadequate understanding of the complex interactions within the neural circuitry that triggers renewed drug-seeking and relapse. Accordingly, in the present review, we aim to highlight some of the recent progress in our understanding of the brain mechanisms underpinning psychostimulant relapse. In particular, we will focus upon the emerging evidence of an important role for neuropeptide systems expressed within the lateral hypothalamus (LH) in modulating drug-seeking and relapse to psychostimulant use. Of the multiple peptides expressed in the LH that appear to regulate reward-seeking, we will focus on two, orexin and cocaineand amphetamineregulated transcript (CART), which appear to have opposing effects on food-seeking behaviour. We outline current research that is investigating how these peptide systems might interact with the ‘classic’ neural circuitry implicated in the addiction and relapse process, as well as other regions that have ‘re-emerged’ as potential mediators of addiction-related behaviours [3].
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تاریخ انتشار 2012