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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Morphine-Induced Modulation Of Ltd At Gabaergic Synapses In The Ventral Tegmental Area, Matthieu Dacher, Fereshteh S. Nugent
Morphine-Induced Modulation Of Ltd At Gabaergic Synapses In The Ventral Tegmental Area, Matthieu Dacher, Fereshteh S. Nugent
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Adaptive behaviors often require the learning of appropriate responses to rewarding stimuli, yet aberrant learning processes can lead to serious diseases such as addiction. Dopamine (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA) play an essential role in the treatment of rewarding stimuli, and they exhibit plasticity in response to such stimuli, but also to drugs of abuse. Previously we discovered a form of presynaptic nitric oxide (NO)-mediated long-term potentiation (LTPGABA) at GABAergic synapses onto VTA DA neurons that is prevented with morphine in vivo 24 h after exposure. Here we investigated whether the same GABAergic synapses are …
Opiates And Plasticity, Matthieu Dacher, Fereshteh S. Nugent
Opiates And Plasticity, Matthieu Dacher, Fereshteh S. Nugent
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences
Opiates are among the most powerful analgesics and pain-relieving agents. However, they are potentially extremely addictive thereby limiting their medical use, making them exceedingly susceptible to abuse and adding to the global drug problem. It is believed that positive memories associated with the pleasurable effects of opiates and negative memories associated with dysphoria during opiate withdrawal contribute to compulsive opiate-seeking behavior characterizing addiction. There is a vast amount of available data regarding the neuroadaptations in response to opiates during opiate tolerance, dependence and withdrawal that contribute to opiate addiction, yet it is still a major challenge to identify the neurobiological …