Cold Spring Harbor perspectives in medicine
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Cold Spring Harb Perspect Med · Jan 2012
ReviewA brain on cannabinoids: the role of dopamine release in reward seeking.
Increases in mesolimbic dopamine transmission are observed when animals are treated with all known drugs of abuse, including cannabis, and to conditioned stimuli predicting their availability. In contrast, decreases in mesolimbic dopamine function are observed during drug withdrawal, including cannabis-withdrawal syndrome. ⋯ The recent discovery that endogenous cannabinoids modulate the mesolimbic dopamine system, however, might be exploited for the development of potential pharmacotherapies designed to treat disorders of motivation. Indeed, disrupting endocannabinoid signaling decreases drug-induced increases in dopamine release in addition to dopamine concentrations evoked by conditioned stimuli during reward seeking.