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A Comparison of Cocaine Addiction Models Based on an Integration of Behavioral, Anatomical, and Neurochemical Studies: A Review of Proposed Mechanisms on Why Drug Addicts Stay Addicted

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Identifier	Thesis 1982
Author	Walstrom, Arabella von, 1982-
Title	A Comparison of Cocaine Addiction Models Based on an Integration of Behavioral, Anatomical, and Neurochemical Studies: A Review of Proposed Mechanisms on Why Drug Addicts Stay Addicted
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2008
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	Repeated exposure to addictive drugs causes unmistakable changes to occur on both a neuronal and a behavioral level. Certain circuits in the brain of an addict are forced to change and adapt to an environment of drug-induced chemical imbalance. This thesis looks at a sampling of the current literature on drug dependency and compares and contrasts two models of cocaine addiction: the mesocorticolimbic pathway model and the hypoactive prefrontal cortex model. Recent papers on the classic mesocorticolimbic dopamine circuit model are reviewed in detail and they provide substantial evidence for strong involvement of the dopaminergic circuit. In the same light, other papers discuss the concept of hypofrontality and experimental data that support a reduction in activity in the prefrontal cortex in association with drug addiction. In addition, neurochemical studies provide evidence linking specific neurotransmitter systems to drug addiction in relation to the mesocorticolimbic pathway and the hypoactive prefrontal model. The importance of dopamine transporters in preventing the uptake of dopamine points to these transporters as the entities responsible for cocaine's reinforcing effects. Other studies establish the importance of acetylcholine as an inhibitor to cocaine reinforcement, and show that the cholinergic cells in the nucleus accumbens that are critical for controlling motor balance are unable to recover after cell ablation as they would have, after cocaine administration. The role of dopamine itself is indicated in studies that show that in high-grooming rats there is less dopamine secreted from neurons in the prefrontal cortex when they are within stressful environments, and they seek to make up for that lack of dopamine by seeking cocaine more aggressively than low grooming rats. Because the high grooming rats have hypoactive medial prefrontal cortex's, they are more prone to cocaine use and cocaine seeking behavior. It was also shown that repeatedly blocking dopamine D2 receptors with injections of sulpiride into the mPFC, and hence decreasing the inhibitory modulation of pyramidal output neurons, enhances subsequent responses to cocaine. The papers discussed may provide stronger evidence for either one model over another; however, it is likely that both models work together within the human brain. That such complex mechanisms that influence drug addiction might function together, and demonstrates the interconnectedness that makes us highly functioning human beings.
Subject	Cocaine abuse -- Physiological aspects
Department	Department of Biology
Advisor	Jackson, Mark E
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734350
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A Comparison of Cocaine Addiction Models Based on an Integration of Behavioral, Anatomical, and Neurochemical Studies: A Review of Proposed Mechanisms on Why Drug Addicts Stay Addicted

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