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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2022 Mar 31.
Published in final edited form as: Mol Psychiatry. 2021 Apr 9;27(1):652–668. doi: 10.1038/s41380-021-01080-7

Figure 2. Dysregulation of NAc extracellular glutamate after cocaine experience.

Figure 2

A In drug naïve animals, GLT-1 is a key astrocytic glutamate transporter that maintains low levels of glutamate at synaptic and perisynaptic locations, while xCT is a key astrocytic glutamate antiporter that maintains ambient glutamate levels for tonic activities of mGluRs in the NAc. B After withdrawal from cocaine self-administration, astrocytes retract from synapses and both GLT1- and xCT-mediated regulation of glutamate is compromised, resulting in increased levels of synaptic and perisynaptic glutamate but decreased levels of ambient, extracellular glutamate.