Remembering where to get high
A research team led by Oliver Schlüter (University of Pittsburgh, PA, USA) found that cocaine-induced place preference in mice -- returning to places where the drug was previously received -- does not depend on lasting rewiring of neurons in the NAc. This finding is an important step towards a better understanding of the cellular and molecular underpinnings of addictive behavior, paving the way for the development of effective therapeutics. Taking cocaine leads to the generation of immature neuronal contacts called silent synapses in the NAc. Silent synapses, as the name indicates, are not very active. However, after quitting drug abuse, they mature and become stronger, or "unsilenced," as researchers call it. Unsilencing synapses leads to massive NAc rewiring during drug withdrawal and forms the basis of many addictive behaviors. The process may explain why drug craving often increases over time in the first weeks of abstinence. Previous work on silent synapse-based N...