BACKGROUND: Rats given extended access to cocaine develop several symptoms of addiction,
including a gradual escalation of drug intake, whereas rats given limited access do not. …

This review focuses on cocaine-induced postsynaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens (NAc)
involving changes in AMPA receptor (AMPAR) transmission. First, fundamental …

Signals of energy homeostasis interact closely with neural circuits of motivation to control food
intake. An emerging hypothesis is that the transition to maladaptive feeding behavior seen …

Pavlovian cues associated with junk-foods (caloric, highly sweet, and/or fatty foods), like the
smell of brownies, can elicit craving to eat and increase the amount of food consumed. …

Microdialysis sampling was coupled on-line to micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC)
to monitor extracellular dopamine concentration in the brains of rats. Microdialysis probes …

For decades the brain was erroneously considered an insulin insensitive organ. Although
gaps in our knowledge base remain, conceptual frameworks are starting to emerge to provide …

Urges to eat are influenced by stimuli in the environment that are associated with food (food
cues). Obese people are more sensitive to food cues, reporting stronger craving and …

Cue-induced cocaine seeking intensifies or incubates after withdrawal from extended access
cocaine self-administration, a phenomenon termed incubation of cocaine craving. The …

Repeated drug use can change dopamine (DA) function in ways that promote the development
and persistence of addiction, but in what direction? By one view, drug use blunts DA …

The spread of certain diseases can be promoted, in some cases substantially, by prior
infection with another disease. One example is that of HIV, whose immunosuppressant effects …