Figure 1.

Glutamate systems controlling opiate addiction. Three major glutamatergic inputs to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) arise from the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), hippocampus (Hipp), and basolateral amygdala (BLA) and regulate opiate reward and relapse. The BLA also projects to the mPFC and central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) (see text for details). The CeA can access the ventral tegmental area (VTA) directly or through a relay in the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) or periaqueductal gray (PAG). The VTA projects to all components of the circuit and modulates their activity. Output from NAc neurons drives relapse to opiate seeking.