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Neural Basis of Drug Addiction

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Drug Abuse in Adolescence

Abstract

Drug addiction is defined as a chronically relapsing disorder, characterized by the compulsion to seek and take drugs, a loss of inhibition in the ability to control amount of intake, and the development of a negative hedonic state when access to drug is prohibited. According to Koob and Le Moal, there is a spiraling distress cycle of addiction that is comprised of social, psychiatric, and neurobiological mechanisms. The underlying neurobiological systems involved in the addiction cycle are quite complex, and no single mechanism mediates this process. Although there is a constellation of underlying neural pathways and processes involved in the rewarding effects of drugs of abuse, the scope of this chapter will be limited to the mesocorticolimbic reward circuit.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, USA

    Cassandra D. Gipson & Peter W. Kalivas

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  1. Cassandra D. Gipson
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  2. Peter W. Kalivas
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Correspondence to Cassandra D. Gipson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Denise De Micheli

  2. Universidade Anhembi Morumbi, São Paulo, Brazil

    André Luiz Monezi Andrade

  3. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Eroy Aparecida da Silva

  4. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

    Maria Lucia Oliveira de Souza Formigoni

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Gipson, C., Kalivas, P. (2016). Neural Basis of Drug Addiction. In: De Micheli, D., Andrade, A., da Silva, E., de Souza Formigoni, M. (eds) Drug Abuse in Adolescence. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-17795-3_4

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