| First Author | Mills F | Year | 2017 |
| Journal | Nat Neurosci | Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 4 | Pages | 540-549 |
| PubMed ID | 28192395 | Mgi Jnum | J:244594 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:5913373 | Doi | 10.1038/nn.4503 |
| Citation | Mills F, et al. (2017) Cadherins mediate cocaine-induced synaptic plasticity and behavioral conditioning. Nat Neurosci 20(4):540-549 |
| abstractText | Drugs of abuse alter synaptic connections in the reward circuitry of the brain, which leads to long-lasting behavioral changes that underlie addiction. Here we show that cadherin adhesion molecules play a critical role in mediating synaptic plasticity and behavioral changes driven by cocaine. We demonstrate that cadherin is essential for long-term potentiation in the ventral tegmental area and is recruited to the synaptic membranes of excitatory synapses onto dopaminergic neurons following cocaine-mediated behavioral conditioning. Furthermore, we show that stabilization of cadherin at the membrane of these synapses blocks cocaine-induced synaptic plasticity, leading to a reduction in conditioned place preference induced by cocaine. Our findings identify cadherins and associated molecules as targets of interest for understanding pathological plasticity associated with addiction. |
