Roche Katherine W
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Building 35, Room 2C903, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
Trends Neurosci. 2004 Dec;27(12):699-700. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2004.09.002.
One feature of addiction is the enhanced locomotor response known as behavioral sensitization that occurs with prolonged exposure to psychostimulants. In a recent study, Yao et al. have analyzed four distinct animal models that share this common phenotype. Evaluation of gene expression in the striatum reveals that postsynaptic density (PSD)-95, a synaptic scaffolding protein, is downregulated in each model, suggesting an essential role for this protein in addiction.
