Ikemoto Satoshi, Wise Roy A
Behavioral Neuroscience Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, 5500 Nathan Shock Drive, Baltimore, MD 21224, USA.
Neuropharmacology. 2004;47 Suppl 1:190-201. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2004.07.012.
Addictive drugs are thought to activate brain circuitry that normally mediates more natural rewards such as food or water. Drugs activate this circuitry at synaptic junctions within the brain; identifying the junctions at which this occurs provides clues to the neurochemical and anatomical characteristics of the circuitry. One approach to identifying the junctions at which drugs interact with this circuitry is to determine if animals will lever-press for site-specific microinjections of addictive drugs. This approach has identified GABAergic, dopaminergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic trigger zones within meso-corticolimbic circuitry important for natural reward function.
成瘾性药物被认为会激活大脑中通常介导食物或水等更自然奖赏的神经回路。药物在大脑内的突触连接处激活该神经回路；确定药物作用的突触连接处，能为该神经回路的神经化学和解剖学特征提供线索。确定药物与该神经回路相互作用的突触连接处的一种方法，是判断动物是否会为了特定部位微量注射成瘾性药物而按压杠杆。这种方法已经确定了中脑-皮质-边缘神经回路内对自然奖赏功能很重要的γ-氨基丁酸能、多巴胺能、谷氨酸能和胆碱能触发区。
