It was suggested in 1986 that cue-induced drug craving in cocaine addicts progressively increases over the first several weeks of abstinence and remains high for extended periods. During the past decade, investigators have identified an analogous incubation phenomenon in rodents, in which time-dependent increases in cue-induced drug seeking are observed after withdrawal from intravenous cocaine self-administration. Such an incubation of drug craving is not specific to cocaine, as similar findings have been observed after self-administration of heroin, nicotine, methamphetamine and alcohol in rats. In this review, we discuss recent results that have identified important brain regions involved in the incubation of drug craving, as well as evidence for the underlying cellular mechanisms. Understanding the neurobiology of the incubation of drug craving in rodents is likely to have significant implications for furthering understanding of brain mechanisms and circuits that underlie craving and relapse in human addicts.

中文翻译：

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药物渴望孵化的神经生物学

1986 年有人提出，可卡因成瘾者的线索诱发的药物渴望在戒断的前几周逐渐增加，并在很长一段时间内保持高位。在过去的十年中，研究人员在啮齿动物中发现了一种类似的孵化现象，其中在停止静脉注射可卡因自我给药后观察到线索诱导的药物寻求随时间增加。这种对药物渴望的潜伏期并不是可卡因所特有的，因为在大鼠自我给药海洛因、尼古丁、甲基苯丙胺和酒精后也观察到了类似的发现。在这篇综述中，我们讨论了最近的结果，这些结果确定了参与药物渴望孵化的重要大脑区域，以及潜在细胞机制的证据。