Featured Review Cell Science Reviews Vol 6 No 1 ISSN 1742-8130

Role of the amygdala in drug-related memories

In current and former drug addicts, drug-associated stimuli can evoke memories of prior drug use, which can in turn produce drug craving and potentially lead to relapse. These drug-related memories are formed as episodic memories or by classical conditioning of discrete environmental cues or contexts during repeated drug use. Evidence to date suggests that drug-related memories share similar neural mechanisms with processing underlying normal learning and memory. This review will focus on the role of the amygdala in mediating drug-related memories. After a brief introduction and an overview of animal models to study this phenomenon, a review of the neuroanatomy and neurochemistry of the amygdala is presented. A critical review of the current literature from animal and human studies is then provided, which clearly implicate this limbic structure, particularly the basolateral subregion, in mediating memories associated with drug use. Finally, experimental methods for disrupting drug-related memories as a potential treatment for drug addiction are summarized.

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