Neural Mechanisms of Addiction

Mary Torregrossa has conducted research in the neuroscience of addiction field for 16 years, including studying opiates, psychostimulants, alcohol, and cannabinoids in addition to investigating the neural mechanisms underlying addiction and potential treatments using a variety of techniques, including behavioral analyses, pharmacology, microdialysis, biochemistry, molecular biology, and proteomics. Dr. Torregrossa began her career by earning her Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in the laboratory of Dr. James Woods, one of the “founding fathers” of behavioral pharmacological studies of addictive disorders using animal models, and, as a postdoctoral fellow, trained with two other leaders in the addiction field, Dr. Peter Kalivas and Dr. Jane Taylor. Dr. Torregrossa is now an independent investigator in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. She is the author of nearly 30 peer-reviewed articles in the field, as well as numerous reviews and book chapters.

1. Introduction
Mary M. Torregrossa
2. Animal Models of Addiction
Rita A. Fuchs
3. Transcriptional and Epigenetic Regulation of Reward Circuitry in Drug Addiction
A.J. Robison
4. Neural Circuit Alterations in Addiction
Matt Hearing and Eden Marie Anderson
5. Glutamatergic Neuroplasticity in Addiction
L. A. Knackstedt and Allison Bechard
6. Neural Ensemble Encoding of Addictive Behavior
Bruce Hope
7. Interoceptive Stimulus Effects of Drugs of Abuse
Jennifer Murray
8. Maladaptive Memory Mechanisms in Addiction and Relapse
Mary M. Torregrossa
9. Neural Morphology and Addiction
Patrick Mulholland
10. Mechanisms regulating compulsive drug behaviors
David M. Dietz
11. Role of Stress-Associated Signaling in Addiction
John Mantsch and Elizabeth M. Doncheck
12. Negative Reinforcement Mechanisms in Addiction
Olivier George
13. Circadian Rhythms and Addiction
Ryan Logan
14. Role of Oxytocin in Countering Addiction-Associated Behaviors Exacerbated by Stress
Jacqueline McGinty
15. The Role of Norepinephrine in Addiction: Past, Present, and Future
David Weinshenker
16. Glial Dysregulation in Addiction
David Baker
17. Role of the Extracellular Matrix in Addiction
Peter W. Kalivas and Lauren Beloate
18. Striatal cell-type specific plasticity in addiction
Mary Kay Lobo
19. Harnessing Circuits for the Treatment of Addictive Disorders
Christelle Baunez
20. Conclusions and Future Directions
Mary M. Torregrossa