The selective D₃Receptor antagonist VK4-116 reverses loss of insight caused by self-administration of cocaine in rats.

ABSTRACT: Chronic psychostimulant use causes long-lasting changes to neural and cognitive function that persist after long periods of abstinence. As cocaine users transition from drug use to abstinence, a parallel transition from hyperactivity to hypoactivity has been found in orbitofrontal-striatal glucose metabolism and striatal D₂/D₃-receptor activity. Targeting these changes pharmacologically, using highly selective dopamine D₃-receptor (D₃R) antagonists and partial agonists, has shown promise in reducing drug-taking, and attenuating relapse in animal models of cocaine and opioid use disorder. However, much less attention has been paid to treating the loss of insight, operationalized as the inability to infer likely outcomes, associated with chronic ps

SUBMITTER: Panayi MC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11319511 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature