Advances in neuroscience identified addiction as a chronic brain disease with strong
genetic, neurodevelopmental, and sociocultural components. We here discuss the circuit …

Over the past 10 years, the development and convergence of microbial opsin engineering,
modular genetic methods for cell-type targeting and optical strategies for guiding light …

The striatum is essential for learning which actions lead to reward and for implementing
those actions. Decades of experimental and theoretical work have led to several influential …

The nucleus accumbens is a major input structure of the basal ganglia and integrates
information from cortical and limbic structures to mediate goal-directed behaviors. Chronic …

Addiction is a chronic relapsing disorder characterized by the loss of control over drug
intake, high motivation to obtain the drug, and a persistent craving for the drug …

It is widely accepted that D1 dopamine receptor–expressing striatal neurons convey their
information directly to the output nuclei of the basal ganglia, whereas D2-expressing …

Enhanced glutamatergic transmission in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a region critical for
reward and motivation, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of depression; however …

Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is an intractable syndrome, and rising overdose death rates
represent a substantial public health crisis that exacts tremendous personal and financial …

The reinforcing and rewarding properties of cocaine are attributed to its ability to increase
dopaminergic transmission in nucleus accumbens (NAc). This action reinforces drug taking …

Here, we review the neural circuit bases of habits, compulsions, and addictions, behaviors
which are all characterized by relatively automatic action performance. We discuss relevant …