Drug addiction is a chronic disorder characterized by craving, compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences and high rates of relapse. The neurobiological mechanism underlying addiction disorders is at least partly related to long-lasting memories of the drug experience that are linked to glutamate-dependent plasticity in mesocorticolimbic brain circuits that mediate reward, goal-directed behavior, emotional expression, and cognition. Various lines of evidence suggest that glutamatergic plasticity in forebrain regions such as the nucleus accumbens, prefrontal cortex and amygdala is critical for maintaining drug-seeking and drug-taking behaviors (1, 2).
