PSY 338 Lecture Notes - Lecture 20: Nucleus Accumbens, Stria Terminalis, Prodynorphin
29 Apr 2020
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High times for drugs: epigenetics imprint, legacy, and brain. Icahn school of medicine at mount sinai - friedman brain institute. Marijuana is the most used in the us. Nationally ~125 people a day die from overdosing on heroin and painkillers. Has impacted many suburban areas and small towns in the us, not just big cities. Prodynorphin mrna expression in the human brain. Expressed in the amygdala, important for emotion regulation. Impairment of the prodynorphin gene in depressed and bipolar patients, but not schizophrenic patients. Impairment also in substance users, periamygdala cortex (pac) specifically. Prodynorphin mrna in the rat pac is reduced following heroin self-administration in the acute stress withdrawal period. Chemogenetic inhibition of pdyn neurons in the pac activates the extended amygdala. Central amygdala, bed nucleus stria terminalis and nucleus accumbens shell. Maladaptive response to fear, anxiety and stress. Dysregulation of the extended amygdala has been implicated in psychiatric disorders.
