Mongi-Bragato Bethania, Avalos María P, Guzmán Andrea S, Bollati Flavia A, Cancela Liliana M
Instituto de Farmacología Experimental de Córdoba (IFEC-CONICET), Departamento de Farmacología, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Córdoba, Argentina.
Front Psychiatry. 2018 May 28;9:222. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00222. eCollection 2018.
Enkephalin expression is high in mesocorticolimbic areas associated with psychostimulant-induced behavioral and neurobiological effects, and may also modulate local neurotransmission in this circuit network. Psychostimulant drugs, like amphetamine and cocaine, significantly increase the content of enkephalin in these brain structures, but we do not yet understand the specific significance of this drug-induced adaptation. In this review, we summarize the neurochemical and molecular mechanism of psychostimulant-induced enkephalin activation in mesocorticolimbic brain areas, and the contribution of this opioid peptide in the pivotal neuroadaptations and long-term behavioral changes underlying psychostimulant addiction. There is evidence suggesting that adaptive changes in enkephalin content in the mesocorticolimbic circuit, induced by acute and chronic psychostimulant administration, may represent a key initial step in the long-term behavioral and neuronal plasticity induced by these drugs.
脑啡肽在与精神兴奋剂诱导的行为和神经生物学效应相关的中脑皮质边缘区域表达较高，并且可能还会调节该回路网络中的局部神经传递。像苯丙胺和可卡因这样的精神兴奋剂药物，会显著增加这些脑结构中脑啡肽的含量，但我们尚未了解这种药物诱导的适应性变化的具体意义。在这篇综述中，我们总结了精神兴奋剂诱导中脑皮质边缘脑区脑啡肽激活的神经化学和分子机制，以及这种阿片肽在精神兴奋剂成瘾背后的关键神经适应性和长期行为变化中的作用。有证据表明，急性和慢性给予精神兴奋剂所诱导的中脑皮质边缘回路中脑啡肽含量的适应性变化，可能是这些药物诱导的长期行为和神经元可塑性的关键初始步骤。
