Glutamate and Addiction / Contemporary Clinical Neuroscience (PDF)

The past decade has witnessed a growing body of preclinical and clinical evidence that glutamatergic systems may play a pivotal role in drug dependence. In Glutamate and Addiction, world-renowned scientific experts critically review all of this evidence and make the case for the role of glutamatergic systems in both the etiology and treatment of addiction disorders. The authors examine the glutamate connection in stimulant drugs of abuse (cocaine, amphetamine, and methamphetamine), in opiate addiction, and in alcohol abuse and dependence. Using a variety of pharmacological, biochemical, genetic, and brain imaging techniques, these investigators show precisely how glutamate is involved in the etiology of addictions and how blocking or activating certain elements of the glutamatergic system appear to alleviate particular components of addiction. Their survey takes in both clinical approaches using medications that influence glutamate and cutting-edge preclinical approaches that manipulate specific subtypes of glutamate receptors or specific substrates of the "glutamate cascade" to determine their roles in various addictive states. The discussion includes a full review of possible treatments of addiction using glutamatergic antagonists and co-agonists such as acamprosate to modify specific aspects of glutamate function in the central nervous system.

Illuminating, authoritative, and forward looking, Glutamate and Addiction clarifies for the first time the relationship between glutamatergic systems and addiction and sets the stage for productive experimental and clinical investigations of many of today's emerging therapeutics for addictive disorders.