10.17863/CAM.30653
Exton-McGuinness, Marc TJ
0000-0002-6851-9306
Milton, Amy L
0000-0003-0175-9417
Reconsolidation blockade for the treatment of addiction: challenges, new targets, and opportunities.
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
2018
Animals
Conditioning, Classical
Conditioning, Operant
Humans
Memory Consolidation
Secondary Prevention
Substance-Related Disorders
Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository
University of Cambridge
013meh722
2018-10-10
2018-10-10
2018-09
eng
Article
https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/283285
10.1101/lm.046771.117
Addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder. The progression to pathological drug-seeking is thought to be driven by maladaptive learning processes which store and maintain associative memory, linking drug highs with cues and actions in the environment. These memories can encode Pavlovian associations which link predictive stimuli (e.g., people, places, and paraphernalia) with a hedonic drug high, as well as instrumental learning about the actions required to obtain drug-associated incentives. Learned memories are not permanent however, and much recent interest has been generated in exploiting the process of reconsolidation to erase or significantly weaken maladaptive memories to treat several mental health disorders, including addictions. Normally reconsolidation serves to update and maintain the adaptive relevance of memories, however administration of amnestic agents within the critical "reconsolidation window" can weaken or even erase maladaptive memories. Here we discuss recent advances in the field, including ongoing efforts to translate preclinical reconsolidation research in animal models into clinical practice.
Wellcome Trust
200710/Z/16/Z
Medical Research Council
MR/N02530X/1