ArticleMolecular psychiatry2021
Impaired glutamate homeostasis in the nucleus accumbens in human cocaine addiction.
Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 65 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effect of N-acetylcysteine on craving in substance use disorders (SUD): a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Attenuating trauma- and cocaine-related intrusions by blocking memory reconsolidation with minocycline: protocol for a transdiagnostic randomized controlled trial.European journal of psychotraumatology · 2026Trial
- Cue-induced cocaine craving enhances psychosocial stress and vice versa in chronic cocaine users.Translational psychiatry · 2022Trial
- Cue-elicited prefrontal gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) dynamics in cannabis use disorder.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- An astrocytic ensemble at vHip-NAc synapses modulates cognitive impairments induced by chronic tetrahydrocannabinol exposure.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Article
- Cue-induced Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of Glutamate in Addiction Research: Current Evidence, Pros, and Cons.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Review
- Abstinence from cocaine self-administration promotes microglial pruning of astrocytes, which drives cocaine-seeking behavior.Cell reports · 2025Article
- ERK2 Signaling in the Nucleus Accumbens Facilitates Stress Susceptibility and Cocaine Reinstatement.Biological psychiatry global open science · 2025Article
- Pregnant maternal brain dorsal anterior cingulate cortex choline/creatine ratios on 1H-MR spectroscopy in opioid exposure.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Article
- Aberrant glutamatergic systems underlying impulsive behaviors: Insights from clinical and preclinical research.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2024Review
- Higher striatal glutamate in male youth with internet gaming disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2024Article
- Article
- Plasma endocannabinoids in cocaine dependence and their relation to cerebral metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 density.Translational psychiatry · 2023Article
- Chronic 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) Use Is Related to Glutamate and GABA Concentrations in the Striatum But Not the Anterior Cingulate Cortex.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Ketogenic diet: a potential adjunctive treatment for substance use disorders.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Review
- The Potential of N-acetyl Cysteine in Behavioral Addictions and Related Compulsive and Impulsive Behaviors and Disorders: a Scoping Review.Current addiction reports · 2022Article
- Lower dACC glutamate in cannabis users during early phase abstinence.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Responsivity of serotonin transporter knockout rats to short and long access to cocaine: Modulation of the glutamate signalling in the nucleus accumbens shell.British journal of pharmacology · 2022Article
- The effects of early life stress on impulsivity.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 3 institutions in 5 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Cocaine addiction is characterized by overwhelming craving for the substance, which drives its escalating use despite adverse consequences. Animal models suggest a disrupted glutamate homeostasis in the nucleus accumbens to underlie addiction-like behavior. After chronic administration of cocaine, rodents show decreased levels of accumbal glutamate, whereas drug-seeking reinstatement is associated with enhanced glutamatergic transmission. However, due to technical obstacles, the role of disturbed glutamate homeostasis for cocaine addiction in humans remains only partially understood, and accordingly, no approved pharmacotherapy exists. Here, we applied a tailored proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy protocol that allows glutamate quantification within the human nucleus accumbens. We found significantly reduced basal glutamate concentrations in the nucleus accumbens in cocaine-addicted (N = 26) compared with healthy individuals (N = 30), and increased glutamate levels during cue-induced craving in cocaine-addicted individuals compared with baseline. These glutamatergic alterations, however, could not be significantly modulated by a short-term challenge of N-acetylcysteine (2400 mg/day on 2 days). Taken together, our findings reveal a disturbed accumbal glutamate homeostasis as a key neurometabolic feature of cocaine addiction also in humans. Therefore, we suggest the glutamatergic system as a promising target for the development of novel pharmacotherapies, and in addition, as a potential biomarker for a personalized medicine approach in addiction.
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