The mesolimbic dopamine system—which originates in the ventral tegmental area and
projects to the striatum—has been shown to be involved in the expression of sex-specific …

Microglia, the brain’s resident macrophages, help to regulate brain function by removing dying
neurons, pruning non-functional synapses, and producing ligands that support neuronal …

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a leading cause of disease burden worldwide. While
the incidence, symptoms and treatment of MDD all point toward major sex differences, the …

Regulation of axonal dopamine release by local microcircuitry is at the hub of several
biological processes that govern the timing and magnitude of signaling events in reward‐related …

Fast scan cyclic voltammetry in brain slices (slice voltammetry) has been used over the last
several decades to increase substantially our understanding of the complex local regulation …

The reinforcing and rewarding properties of cocaine are attributed to its ability to increase
dopaminergic transmission in nucleus accumbens (NAc). This action reinforces drug taking …

Although both males and females become addicted to cocaine, females transition to
addiction faster and experience greater difficulties remaining abstinent. We demonstrate an …

β-catenin is a multi-functional protein that has an important role in the mature central
nervous system; its dysfunction has been implicated in several neuropsychiatric disorders, …

A large body of work has aimed to define the precise information encoded by dopaminergic
projections innervating the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Prevailing models are based on …

Addiction to cocaine and other psychostimulants represents a major public health crisis. The
development and persistence of addictive behaviors comes from a complex interaction of …