The neural basis of drug craving: An incentive-sensitization theory of addiction

A model of the neuropsychology of anxiety is proposed. The model is based in the first instance upon an analysis of the behavioural effects of the antianxiety drugs (benzodiazepines, barbiturates, and alcohol) in animals. From such psychopharmacologi-cal experiments the concept of a “behavioural inhibition system” (BIS) has been developed. This system responds to novel stimuli or to those associated with punishment or nonreward by inhibiting ongoing behaviour and increasing arousal and attention to the environment. It is activity in the BIS that constitutes anxiety and that is reduced by antianxiety drugs. The effects of the antianxiety drugs in the brain also suggest hypotheses concerning the neural substrate of anxiety. Although the benzodiazepines and barbiturates facilitate the effects of γ-aminobutyrate, this is insufficient to explain their highly specific behavioural effects. Because of similarities between the behavioural effects of certain lesions and those of the antianxiety drugs, it is proposed that these drugs reduce anxiety by impairing the functioning of a widespread neural system including the septo-hippocampal system (SHS), the Papez circuit, the prefrontal cortex, and ascending monoaminergic and cholinergic pathways which innervate these forebrain structures. Analysis of the functions of this system (based on anatomical, physiological, and behavioural data) suggests that it acts as a comparator: it compares predicted to actual sensory events and activates the outputs of the BIS when there is a mismatch or when the predicted event is aversive. Suggestions are made as to the functions of particular pathways within this overall brain system. The resulting theory is applied to the symptoms and treatment of anxiety in man, its relations to depression, and the personality of individuals who are susceptible to anxiety or depression.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0140525X00013066

Précis of The Neuropsychology of Anxiety: An Enquiry into the Functions of the Septo-Hippocampal System..

http://umh1946.edu.umh.es/wp-content/uploads/sites/172/2015/04/Neurocircuitry-of-addiction1.pdf

Neurocircuitry of Addiction

Missale, Cristina, S. Russel Nash, Susan W. Robinson, Mohamed Jaber, and Marc G. Caron. Dopamine Receptors: From Structure to Function. Physiol. Rev. 78: 189–225, 1998. — The diverse physiological actions of dopamine are mediated by at least five distinct G protein-coupled receptor subtypes. Two D1-like receptor subtypes (D1 and D5) couple to the G protein Gs and activate adenylyl cyclase. The other receptor subtypes belong to the D2-like subfamily (D2 , D3 , and D4) and are prototypic of G protein-coupled receptors that inhibit adenylyl cyclase and activate K+ channels. The genes for the D1 and D5 receptors are intronless, but pseudogenes of the D5 exist. The D2 and D3 receptors vary in certain tissues and species as a result of alternative splicing, and the human D4 receptor gene exhibits extensive polymorphic variation. In the central nervous system, dopamine receptors are widely expressed because they are involved in the control of locomotion, cognition, emotion, and affect as well as neuroendocrine s...

Dopamine Receptors: From Structure to Function

A review of central 5-HT receptors and their function

https://www.cell.com/trends/neurosciences/pdf/0166-2236(92)90171-4.pdf

Luis Stinus

Papers

Neural substrates of opiate withdrawal.

Nucleus accumbens and amygdala are possible substrates for the aversive stimulus effects of opiate withdrawal

Evidence of a complete independence of the neurobiological substrates for the induction and expression of behavioral sensitization to amphetamine.

Opponent process theory of motivation: neurobiological evidence from studies of opiate dependence.

Some evidence for the existence of dopaminergic neurons in the rat cortex