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Craving, context and the cortex

Nature Neuroscience volume 14, pages 409–410 (2011)Cite this article

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A new study challenges the idea that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex inhibits drug relapse, by selectively inactivating a subpopulation of neurons in this brain area and showing attenuation of context-induced reinstatement of heroin seeking.

Drug addiction is a chronically relapsing disorder characterized by a compulsion to seek and take drugs, a loss of control over intake and the emergence of a negative emotional state during drug abstinence. One key aspect of drug addiction is the very high relapse rate observed in addicted individuals who try to quit1. High relapse rates are driven by many factors; these include reexposure to the environmental context previously associated with the drug, which can trigger a powerful craving for the drug and provoke relapse. A new study in this issue of Nature Neuroscience identifies a neuronal network responsible for context-induced relapse of heroin seeking2. This study represents a major step toward understanding the neurobiological mechanisms of relapse and may lead to the identification of individuals vulnerable to addiction, as well as the development of new strategies for treating addiction.

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Figure 1: Cortical neuronal ensembles underlying context-induced reinstatement of drug seeking.

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  1. Olivier George and George F. Koob are in the Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA.

    Olivier George & George F Koob

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  1. Olivier George
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  2. George F Koob
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Correspondence to Olivier George or George F Koob.

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George, O., Koob, G. Craving, context and the cortex. Nat Neurosci 14, 409–410 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.2787

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