MOLECULAR AND CELLULAR BASIS OF ADDICTION

Drug addiction results from adaptations in specific brain neurons caus ed by repeated exposure to a drug of abuse. These adaptations combine to produce the complex behaviors that define an addicted slate. Progre ss is being made in identifying such time-dependent, drug-induced adap tations and relating them to specific behavioral features of addiction . Current research needs to understand the types of adaptations that u nderlie the particularly long-lived aspects oi addiction, such as drug craving and relapse, and to identify specific genes that contribute t o individual differences in vulnerability to addiction. Understanding the molecular and cellular basis of addictive states will lead to majo r changes in how addiction is viewed and ultimately treated.