Cocaine sensitization and craving: Differing roles for dopamine and glutamate in the nucleus accumbens

The repeated administration of cocaine produces enduring neuroadaptations t hat are associated with enhanced behavioral responsiveness to cocaine admin istration and lead to cocaine addiction and the manifestation of paranoid p sychosis. This review describes the effect of chronic cocaine administratio n on dopamine and glutamate transmission in the nucleus accumbens, and disc usses the relevance of these changes in the initiation of drug craving and relapse to drug abuse. Recent findings suggest that glutamate transmission in the nucleus accumbens is a dominant precipitator of relapse to drug-seek ing activity, whereas both dopamine and glutamate transmission are importan t for sustaining drug-taking behavior. (C) 2001 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.