Inducible and constitutive transcription factors in the mammalian nervous system: control of gene expression by Jun, Fos and Krox, and CREB/ATF proteins

A circuitry model of the expression of behavioral sensitization to amphetamine-like psychostimulants

People take addictive drugs to elevate mood, but with repeated use these drugs produce serious unwanted effects, which can include tolerance to some drug effects, sensitization to others, and an adapted state - dependence - which sets the stage for withdrawal symptoms when drug use stops. The most serious consequence of repetitive drug taking, however, is addiction: a persistent state in which compulsive drug use escapes control, even when serious negative consequences ensue. Addiction is characterized by a long-lasting risk of relapse, which is often initiated by exposure to drug-related cues. Substantial progress has been made in understanding the molecular and cellular mechanisms of tolerance, dependence and withdrawal, but as yet we understand little of the neural substrates of compulsive drug use and its remarkable persistence. Here we review evidence for the possibility that compulsion and its persistence are based on a pathological usurpation of molecular mechanisms that are normally involved in memory.

Addiction and the brain: The neurobiology of compulsion and its persistence

Addiction, Dopamine, and the Molecular Mechanisms of Memory

The role of excitatory amino acids in behavioral sensitization to psychomotor stimulants

A single injection of amphetamine or methamphetamine induces dynamic alterations in c-fos,zif/268 and preprodynorphin messenger RNA expression in rat forebrain

Repeated amphetamine administration induces a prolonged augmentation of phosphorylated cyclase response element-binding protein and Fos-related antigen immunoreactivity in rat striatum

J.Q. Wang

Papers

A single injection of amphetamine or methamphetamine induces dynamic alterations in c-fos,zif/268 and preprodynorphin messenger RNA expression in rat forebrain

Repeated amphetamine administration induces a prolonged augmentation of phosphorylated cyclase response element-binding protein and Fos-related antigen immunoreactivity in rat striatum

Muscarinic receptors regulate striatal neuropeptide gene expression in normal and amphetamine-treated rats.

Scopolamine augments C-fos and zif/268 messenger rna expression induced by the full D1 dopamine receptor agonist SKF-82958 in the intact rat striatum