Molecular Neurobiology of Addiction

Drug addiction is characterized by very stable behavioral abnormalities, which in turn are mediated by stable abnormalities in the brain’s reward pathways. This has led to the view that drugs of abuse cause addiction, in part, by inducing long-lasting changes in gene expression in these vulnerable regions of the brain. This article aims to summarize evidence for a role of changes in gene expression in animal models of addiction and to focus on some of the particular transcription factors and chromatin modifications that underlie these maladaptive changes in brain function.