Molecular and Cellular Aspects of the Drug Addictions

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xviii

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2. The Nature of Addiction: An Analysis of the Problem

   • Harold Kalant

   Pages 1-28

3. Neuroanatomical and Neurochemical Substrates of Drug-Seeking Behavior: Overview and Future Directions

   • Stanley J. Watson, Keith A. Trujillo, James P. Herman, Huda Akil

   Pages 29-91

4. Bradykinin and Pain

   • Solomon H. Snyder, Donald C. Manning, Larry R. Steranka

   Pages 92-110

5. Neurochemical Aspects of Addiction: Opioids and Other Drugs of Abuse

   • A. Herz, T. S. Shippenberg

   Pages 111-141

6. Which Molecular and Cellular Actions of Ethanol Mediate Reinforcement?

   • Floyd E. Bloom

   Pages 142-158

7. Presynaptic Inhibition, Presynaptic Facilitation, and the Molecular Logic of Second-Messenger Systems

   • Andrea Volterra, Steven A. Siegelbaum, J. David Sweatt, Eric R. Kandel

   Pages 159-197

8. Applications of Molecular Genetics to Neuropsychiatric Disorders

   • Joseph B. Martin

   Pages 198-222

9. Back Matter

   Pages 223-238

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In 1970 I gave up the chairmanship of the Department of Pharmacology at Stanford University Schoel of Medicine to devote full time to basic and clinical research on problems of drug addiction. In 1971 I developed the method of radioligand binding that led to the important characterization of opioid receptors in several laboratories. The extraordinary specificity of these receptors for morphine and related opiates suggested the likelihood that there were naturally occurring morphine-like molecules in the brain and other tissues. The systematic search for these molecules culminated in 1979 in the discovery, by my group, ofthe dynorphin peptides-one of the three families of opioid peptides, the first of which (the enkephalin family) had been discovered in Aberdeen, Scotland, in 1975. I also became involved in clinical research on the pharmacologic treatment of heroin addicts, for which I established the first large methadone mainte­ nance treatment program in California. My basic and clinical research experience convinced me that an institution encompassing laboratory research, studies on normal human volunteers, and treatment research, under a single roof, could expedite progress in understanding the drug addictions. That concept was transformed into reality by the founding, in 1974, of the Addiction Research Foundation of Palo Alto, California. The funds for construction of a laboratory were provided by a generous grant from the Drug Abuse Council (a consortium of several foundations), the president of which was Thomas L. Bryant.

• brain
• drug
• drugs of abuse
• ethanol
• genetics
• opioid
• pain
• psychiatric disorder
• psychology
• research

• Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

  Avram Goldstein

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