Formation of accumbens GluR2-lacking AMPA receptors mediates incubation of cocaine craving.

ABSTRACT: Relapse to cocaine use after prolonged abstinence is an important clinical problem. This relapse is often induced by exposure to cues associated with cocaine use. To account for the persistent propensity for relapse, it has been suggested that cue-induced cocaine craving increases over the first several weeks of abstinence and remains high for extended periods. We and others identified an analogous phenomenon in rats that was termed 'incubation of cocaine craving': time-dependent increases in cue-induced cocaine-seeking over the first months after withdrawal from self-administered cocaine. Cocaine-seeking requires the activation of glutamate projections that excite receptors for alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) in the nucleus accumbens. Here we show that the

SUBMITTER: Conrad KL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2574981 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature