Can Targeting Glutamate Reduce Relapse of Drug Seeking?

Relapse of use of any addictive drug is associated with activation of projections from the prefrontal cortex to the nucleus accumbens (NAc). Researchers in China studied rats to learn more about the neurobiology of relapse.

The rats were trained to press a bar in order to turn on a light and a tone and receive intravenous heroin in decreasing doses for 2 weeks. They then had 2 weeks of extinction training in which bar pressing had no effect. Controls received intravenous saline when case animals received heroin. Drug seeking was reinstated by restoring the light and tone when the rat pressed the bar; reinstatement could then be measured by the rats' increased bar pressing.

Compared with saline, heroin self-administration was associated with d…