The Effect of Dehydroepiandrosterone Treatment on Neurogenesis, Astrogliosis and Long-Term Cocaine-Seeking Behavior in a Cocaine Self-Administration Model in Rats.

ABSTRACT: Cocaine addiction is an acquired behavioral state developed in vulnerable individuals after cocaine exposure. It is characterized by compulsive drug-seeking and high vulnerability to relapse even after prolonged abstinence, associated with decreased neurogenesis in the hippocampus. This addictive state is hypothesized to be a form of "memory disease" in which the drug exploits the physiological neuroplasticity mechanisms that mediate regular learning and memory processes. Therefore, a major focus of the field has been to identify the cocaine-induced neuroadaptations occurring in the usurped brain's reward circuit. The neurosteroid dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) affects brain cell morphology, differentiation, neurotransmission, and memory. It also reduces drug-seeking behavior in an animal m

SUBMITTER: Ahdoot-Levi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8662380 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature