Publications by authors named "Liran A Levi"
Cocaine use and abstinence induce long-term synaptic alterations in the excitatory input to nucleus accumbens (NAc) medium spiny neurons (MSNs). The NAc regulates reward-related behaviors through two parallel projections to the ventral pallidum (VP)-originating in D1 or D2-expressing MSNs (D1-MSNs; D2-MSNs). The activity of these projections depends on their excitatory synaptic inputs, but it is not known whether and how abstinence from cocaine affects the excitatory transmission to D1-MSNs and D2-MSNs.
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- - The ventral pallidum (VP) is crucial in the brain's reward system and has recently been found to contain glutamatergic neurons that can induce aversion, contrasting with the majority of GABAergic neurons that encode rewards.
- - Cocaine conditioned place preference (CPP) training, followed by withdrawal, selectively enhances synaptic connections of VP neurons with aversion-related targets, while decreasing connections with reward-related targets.
- - This study suggests that changes in VP neural pathways may contribute to the heightened aversive feelings experienced during withdrawal, potentially explaining the strong relapse tendencies in drug addiction.
Cocaine-driven changes in the modulation of neurotransmission by neuromodulators are poorly understood. The ventral pallidum (VP) is a key structure in the reward system, in which GABA neurotransmission is regulated by opioid neuropeptides, including dynorphin. However, it is not known whether dynorphin acts differently on different cell types in the VP and whether its effects are altered by withdrawal from cocaine.
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