Regulation of Calcium Impermeable AMPAR Subunit GluA2 in the Amygdala and Striatum of Cocaine-Seeking Rats by TARPs

在过去十年中，欧洲和美国年轻人中可卡因和海洛因的使用一直在稳步增加（联合国世界毒品报告，2018年），因此，了解一些人从娱乐性受控药物使用转向强迫性药物寻求的机制，这是药物成瘾的标志，从未像现在这样重要。该项目旨在确定从娱乐到习惯性药物寻求的网络处理转变的潜在机制。我们的目标是确定杏仁核中依赖于谷氨酸受体调节的可塑性机制。为此，我们将使用习惯性可卡因寻找大鼠的脑组织样本，以及转基因小鼠的切片和培养的电生理。结合这些方法将使我们能够从分子、细胞和行为的角度来理解这些机制。因此，我们期望找到潜在的新的药物靶点，以脱离驱动习惯性药物寻求行为的大脑结构。

The use of cocaine and heroin among young Europeans and Americans has been steadily increasing over the past decade (UN World Drug Report, 2018) and as such it has never been more important to understand the mechanisms whereby some individuals switch from recreational controlled drug use to compulsive drug seeking, the hallmark of drug addiction. This project aims to identify the mechanisms underlying a shift in network processing from recreational to habitual drug-seeking. We aim to identify proposed plasticity mechanisms in the amygdala that rely on modulations of gluatamate receptors. For this purpose, we will use brain tissue samples from habitually cocaine-seeking rats, as well as electrophysiology in slices and cultures of genetically modified mice. Combining these approaches will allow us to understand these mechanisms from a molecular, cellular, and behavioural perspective. Hereby we expect to find potential new drug targets for disengagement of the brain structure driving habitual drug-seeking behaviour.