Abstract
Hippocampal plasticity assists with consolidation and storage of long-lasting memories, and this plasticity is mostly driven by the glutamatergic system. Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder with loss of control over drug taking and drug seeking that is caused by long-lasting memories of drug experience. Relapse to drug use is caused by exposure to context and cues associated with the drug experience, and is a major clinical problem that contributes to the persistence of addiction. This chapter discusses evidence that drugs of abuse alter hippocampal plasticity, and that glutamatergic plasticity in the hippocampus contributes to the process of addiction and relapse. Taken together, development of novel treatment strategies that reverse or prevent drug-induced synaptic alterations in the hippocampus may reduce relapse behaviors associated with addiction.
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Funds from the Department of Veterans Affairs (BX003304) and National Institute on Alcoholism and Alcohol Abuse (AA020098) provided salary support. A part of the chapter has been recently published as a review article by the author.
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Mandyam, C.D. (2022). The Hippocampus and Addiction: Focus on Plasticity and Circuitry in the Hippocampus. In: Patel, V.B., Preedy, V.R. (eds) Handbook of Substance Misuse and Addictions. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-92392-1_24
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