There is growing agreement that genetic factors play an important role in the risk to develop heroin addiction, and comparisons of heroin addiction vulnerability in inbred strains of mice could provide useful information on the question of individual vulnerability to heroin addiction. This study examined the rewarding and locomotor-stimulating effects of heroin in male C57BL/6J and DBA/2J mice....

Stress and stress-associated high levels of glucocorticoid hormones are well-known risk factors in the development of drug addiction and vulnerability to relapse (Koob & Kreek, 2007; Koob, 2008). Human studies indicated that addicts often use drugs to relive their stress and anxiety. Moreover, psychological stress is known to increase vulnerability to addiction. This „self treatment” may initia...

A major challenge in understanding substance-use disorders lies in uncovering why some individuals become addicted when exposed to drugs, whereas others do not. Although genetic, developmental, and environmental factors are recognized as major contributors to a person's risk of becoming addicted, the neurobiological processes that underlie this vulnerability are still poorly understood. Imaging...

Models of addiction treatment that view the sources and solutions to severe alcohol and other drug (AOD) problems as rooted within the vulnerability and resiliency of each individual stand in marked contrast to models that focus on the ecology of AOD problem development and resolution via complex interactions between individuals, families, and communities. An integration of the latter model int...

Impulsivity is the tendency to act prematurely without foresight. Behavioral and neurobiological analysis of this construct, with evidence from both animal and human studies, defines several dissociable forms depending on distinct cortico-striatal substrates. One form of impulsivity depends on the temporal discounting of reward, another on motor or response disinhibition. Impulsivity is commonl...

Bipolar disorders (BDs) and addictions constitute reciprocal risk factors and are best considered under a unitary perspective. The concepts of allostasis and allostatic load (AL) may contribute to the understanding of the complex relationships between BD and addictive behaviors. Allostasis entails the safeguarding of reward function stability by recruitment of changes in the reward and stress s...

Drug addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by compulsive drug intake, loss of control over intake, and impairment in social and occupational function. Animal models have been developed for various stages of the addiction cycle with a focus in our work on the motivational effects of drug dependence. A conceptual framework focused on allostatic changes in reward function that le...