School of Psychology, UNSW Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Br J Pharmacol. 2020 Sep;177(17):3855-3864. doi: 10.1111/bph.15160. Epub 2020 Jul 9.
Alcohol-use disorders are chronically relapsing conditions characterized by cycles of use, abstinence and relapse. The ventral pallidum (VP) is a key node in the neural circuits controlling relapse to alcohol seeking and a key target of pharmacotherapies for relapse prevention. There has been a significant increase in our understanding of the molecular, anatomical, pharmacological and functional properties of the ventral pallidum, laying foundations for a new understanding of its role in relapse to alcohol seeking and motivation. Here we review these advances, placing special emphasis on how advances in understanding in the cellular and circuit architectures of ventral pallidum contributes to the relapse to alcohol seeking. We show how this knowledge improves mechanistic understanding of current relapse prevention pharmacotherapies, how it may be used to tailor these against different forms of relapse and how it may help provide insights into the mental health problems frequently co-morbid with alcohol-use disorders.
酒精使用障碍是一种慢性复发性疾病，其特征是使用、禁欲和复发的周期。腹侧苍白球（VP）是控制酒精寻求复发的神经回路中的关键节点，也是预防复发的药物治疗的关键靶点。我们对腹侧苍白球的分子、解剖、药理学和功能特性的理解有了显著的提高，为理解其在酒精寻求复发和动机中的作用奠定了基础。在这里，我们回顾了这些进展，特别强调了在理解腹侧苍白球的细胞和回路结构方面的进展如何有助于理解酒精寻求的复发。我们展示了这些知识如何提高对当前预防复发药物治疗的机制理解，如何针对不同形式的复发来调整这些治疗方法，以及如何帮助深入了解与酒精使用障碍经常共病的心理健康问题。
