The placebo effect can have a significant influence on treatment outcomes. While we still have a lot to learn about how and why a patient’s expectations can influence the effectiveness of medication ...

Methamphetamine doesn’t just spike levels of the pleasure-inducing hormone dopamine in the reward pathways of the brain – it also provokes damaging brain inflammation through similar mechanisms. Meth ...

Drug addiction poses a global public health challenge, with limited therapeutic options and modest efficacy. While clinical observations suggest that social rank plays a crucial role in determining ...

Neuroscientists find that two distinct neural pathways are responsible for the addictive properties of the opioid fentanyl: one mediates reward, the other promotes the seeking of relief from symptoms ...

For the first time, dopamine regulation has been mapped in real time, deep inside the brains of three humans, revealing how the brain neurotransmitter plays an essential role in not just recognizing ...

Social rank regulates methamphetamine-seeking behavior by modulating the mesocortical and mesolimbic dopamine pathways, and winning experiences can remodel these circuits to suppress drug-seeking. In ...