Clinica Neurologica, Dipartimento di Neuroscienze, Universitá Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
Mol Nutr Food Res. 2010 Apr;54(4):525-31. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.200900237.
Caffeine is the most commonly self-administered psychoactive substance worldwide. At usual doses, the effects of caffeine on vigilance, attention, mood and arousal largely depend on the modulation of central adenosine receptors. The present review article describes the action of caffeine within the striatum, to provide a possible molecular mechanism at the basis of the psychomotor and reinforcing properties of this pharmacological agent. The striatum is in fact a subcortical area involved in sensorimotor, cognitive, and emotional processes, and recent experimental findings showed that chronic caffeine consumption enhances the sensitivity of striatal GABAergic synapses to the stimulation of cannabinoid CB1 receptors. The endocannabinoid system is involved in the psychoactive effects of many compounds, and adenosine A2A receptors (the main receptor target of caffeine) elicit a permissive effect towards CB1 receptors, thus suggesting that A2A-CB1 receptor interaction plays a major role in the generation and maintenance of caffeine reinforcing behavior. Aim of this review is to describe the effects of caffeine on striatal neurotransmission with special reference to the modulation of the endocannabinoid system.
咖啡因是全球范围内最常用的自我给药的精神活性物质。在通常的剂量下，咖啡因对警觉性、注意力、情绪和觉醒的影响在很大程度上取决于中枢腺苷受体的调节。本文综述了咖啡因在纹状体中的作用，为这种药物的精神运动和强化特性提供了一个可能的分子机制。纹状体实际上是一个与感觉运动、认知和情感过程相关的皮质下区域，最近的实验结果表明，慢性咖啡因摄入增强了纹状体 GABA 能突触对大麻素 CB1 受体刺激的敏感性。内源性大麻素系统参与了许多化合物的精神活性作用，而腺苷 A2A 受体（咖啡因的主要受体靶点）对 CB1 受体产生了允许作用，因此表明 A2A-CB1 受体相互作用在咖啡因强化行为的产生和维持中起着主要作用。本文的目的是描述咖啡因对纹状体神经传递的影响，特别参考内源性大麻素系统的调节。
