Addiction silences synapses in reward circuits
"The persistence and inflexibility of addiction-related associations are factors that trigger craving and relapse," said Dr. John Krystal, Editor of Biological Psychiatry. "This study suggests that one factor that may contribute to this inflexibility is that synapses in reward circuits that might promote recovery are silenced," he said, adding that with better understanding of this phenomenon, engaging these silent synapses during treatment may be an important component of recovery. Long-term memories likely form when selective alterations in synaptic connections occur within patterns of neurons called neuronal ensembles. In the study, Bruce Hope, from the National Institutes of Health National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program in Baltimore, Maryland, and colleagues used animal models to investigate if the brain forms drug-related memories in a similar way. The researchers administered cocaine injections to mice, always in the same environmen...