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Volume 12 Issue 11, November 2011

From The Editors

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Research Highlight

  • Mice lackingCntnap2show abnormal neuronal migration, asynchronous firing patterns and have an autism-like phenotype that can be partially normalized by treatment with risperidone.

    • Leonie Welberg
    Research Highlight
  • Neurogenesis in the subventricular zone is robust in infancy, with cells migrating to olfactory regions and also to the prefrontal cortex, but this declines sharply before the age of two.

    • Sian Lewis
    Research Highlight
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In Brief

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Research Highlight

  • microRNA-34c interferes with memory consolidation in the mouse hippocampus and could be a novel target for the treatment of cognitive impairment.

    • Monica Hoyos Flight
    Research Highlight
  • KIBRA may modulate learning and memory through the regulation of AMPA receptor trafficking and synaptic plasticity.

    • Darran Yates
    Research Highlight
  • Identification of the chemical cues that activate specific vomeronasal receptors sheds light on the organization of the vomeronasal system.

    • Katherine Whalley
    Research Highlight
  • A new study reveals an unexpected role for Hedgehog signalling in thermal allodynia and hyperalgesia.

    • Monica Hoyos Flight
    Research Highlight
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Foreword

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Review Article

  • Chronic drug exposure induces long-term changes in the brain, which are partly due to alterations in gene expression. Robison and Nestler review the mechanisms by which drugs of abuse alter the transcriptional potential of genes through the regulation of transcription factors and epigenetic mechanisms, including the regulation of gene expression by non-coding RNAs.

    • Alfred J. Robison
    • Eric J. Nestler
    Review Article
  • Functional imaging studies have pointed to a key role for the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in addiction, both through its regulation of limbic regions and its involvement in higher-order executive function. Goldstein and Volkow review these studies, showing that disruption of the PFC in addiction not only underlies compulsive drug taking but also accounts for the disadvantageous behaviours that are associated with addiction and the erosion of non-drug related motivation and self-control.

    • Rita Z. Goldstein
    • Nora D. Volkow
    Review Article
  • Current addiction pharmacotherapies have limited success. Focusing on alcohol addiction, Heilig and colleagues review the evidence that genetic heterogeneity in the opioid, corticotropin-releasing factor, GABA and serotonin systems may underlie differential treatment responses, and that personalized therapies tailored to patient genotype may lead to more successful treatment for alcohol addiction.

    • Markus Heilig
    • David Goldman
    • Charles P. O'Brien
    Review Article
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Opinion

  • Current theories of addiction all argue for a unitary account of drug addiction. Badiani and colleagues challenge this view by highlighting behavioural, cognitive and neurobiological differences between opiate addiction and psychostimulant addiction. They argue that these differences have important implications for addiction treatment, addiction theories and future research.

    • Aldo Badiani
    • David Belin
    • Yavin Shaham
    Opinion
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Correspondence

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Focus

  • Addiction incurs enormous medical, economic and social costs. The currently available pharmacotherapies for addiction are only moderately effective, which further emphasizes the need to improve our understanding of the changes that are induced in the brain by addictive substances. This Focus issue features five articles that discuss recent insights into the neurobiology of addiction — from the molecular to the behavioural level — and highlight the importance of these findings for the development of new treatments.

    Focus
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