NIH R01 · 2024
Mechanisms of dopaminergic dysfunction in substance use disorder
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The mesolimbic dopamine system is at the core of reinforcement learning, and its dysregulation by stimulants is a major factor in the development of cocaine use disorder (CUD). While dopamine is often linked to valence- based learning, emerging data - as well as preliminary data in this proposal - has indicated that dopamine release in the NAc core is evoked by both rewarding and aversive stimuli, thus challenging the idea of bi- directional valence coding. It is likely that dopamine release in the NAc core signifies how salient – or important – a stimulus is independ`ent of its positive or negative emotional value (valence). Salience is a key driver of the speed at…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.