Persisting consequences of drug intake: towards a memory of addiction (original) (raw)
Summary.
Long-term intake of a psychoactive drug alters brain signal transduction, emotional and motivational factors and behavioral parameters. Some effects that outlast long periods of abstinence are due to the long-term presence of the drug in the organism (tolerance, physical dependence). Withdrawal symptoms, as a consequence of physical dependence, can be protracted, i.e. they persist after long periods of drug deprivation (e.g. a desensitization of the production of cAMP). Further persisting effects include experience-based learning. At least three distinct processes can be differentiated: a memory of drug effects (reflected by a sensitization to drug effects etc.), a memory of drug use (reflected by controlled drug consumption), and a memory of addiction (reflected by a persisting loss of control over drug intake and correlating changes in striatal dopaminergic neurotransmission). The latter probably consists of two components: a general memory of loss of control and a specific memory of the addictive drug (general principles for the development of addiction, specific of the urge for the addictive drug).
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Authors and Affiliations
- Abteilung für Klinische Neurobiologie, Universitätsklinikum Benjamin Franklin, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany, , , , , , DE
A. Heyne, T. May, P. Goll & J. Wolffgramm
Authors
- A. Heyne
- T. May
- P. Goll
- J. Wolffgramm
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Received August 20, 1999; accepted December 16, 1999
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Heyne, A., May, T., Goll, P. et al. Persisting consequences of drug intake: towards a memory of addiction.J Neural Transm 107, 613–638 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s007020070065
- Issue date: May 2000
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s007020070065