Effect of methamphetamine self-administration on neurotensin systems of the basal ganglia.

Methamphetamine (METH) dependence causes alarming personal and social damage. Even though many of the problems associated with abuse of METH are related to its profound actions on dopamine (DA) basal ganglia systems, there currently are no approved medications to treat METH addiction. For this reason, we and others have examined the METH-induced responses of neurotensin (NT) systems in the basal ganglia.