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Brief Communication

Nature Neuroscience 5, 1263–1264 (1 December 2002) | doi:10.1038/nn977

Neural plasticity and addiction: PI3-kinase and cocaine behavioral sensitization

Emanuela Izzo , R|[eacute]|mi Martin-Fardon , George F. Koob , Friedbert Weiss & Pietro Paolo Sanna

Drug addiction has been linked to protracted functional changes in neural circuits involved in motivation that can lead to drug dependence, craving and relapse. Here we investigated the role of the phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase (PI3K) signal transduction pathway in long-lasting behavioral sensitization to cocaine in rats, an animal model of the long-lasting functional changes induced by repeated drug use.