Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med. 2012 Aug 1;2(8):a012229. doi: 10.1101/cshperspect.a012229.
Increases in mesolimbic dopamine transmission are observed when animals are treated with all known drugs of abuse, including cannabis, and to conditioned stimuli predicting their availability. In contrast, decreases in mesolimbic dopamine function are observed during drug withdrawal, including cannabis-withdrawal syndrome. Thus, despite general misconceptions that cannabis is unique from other drugs of abuse, cannabis exerts identical effects on the mesolimbic dopamine system. The recent discovery that endogenous cannabinoids modulate the mesolimbic dopamine system, however, might be exploited for the development of potential pharmacotherapies designed to treat disorders of motivation. Indeed, disrupting endocannabinoid signaling decreases drug-induced increases in dopamine release in addition to dopamine concentrations evoked by conditioned stimuli during reward seeking.
当动物接受包括大麻在内的所有已知滥用药物以及预测其可用性的条件刺激物治疗时,中脑边缘多巴胺传递会增加。相比之下,在药物戒断期间,包括大麻戒断综合征,中脑边缘多巴胺功能会下降。因此,尽管普遍存在误解,认为大麻与其他滥用药物不同,但大麻对中脑边缘多巴胺系统产生相同的影响。然而,最近发现内源性大麻素调节中脑边缘多巴胺系统,这可能被用于开发潜在的药物治疗方法,旨在治疗动机障碍。事实上,破坏内源性大麻素信号会减少药物引起的多巴胺释放增加,以及在寻求奖励期间由条件刺激引起的多巴胺浓度增加。