Cholinergic transmission in the NAc contributes to addiction through the modulation of dopamine signaling and reward processing (Mark et al., 2011). Increased expression of both choline acetyltransferase and the plasma membrane choline transporter in the giant aspiny cholinergic interneurons could increase cholinergic signaling at both nicotinic and muscarinic ACh receptors expressed on the GABAergic output neurons.
