Overview
- Published in The Journal of Neuroscience, the study reports that inhibiting the prelimbic cortex to paraventricular thalamus pathway curbed heroin seeking in a preclinical model.
- Optogenetic depotentiation of this circuit reduced drug-seeking nearly twice as effectively as chemogenetic inhibition, indicating a stronger impact from the light-based approach.
- Researchers used pathway-specific chemogenetics to dampen activity and applied an optogenetic low-frequency protocol to weaken synapses before cued seeking tests.
- The work, led by first author Allison L. Jensen under assistant professor Giuseppe Giannotti at Washington State University, identifies a mechanistic driver of relapse-like behavior.
- The team notes translation to humans remains untested, proposes exploring analogous neuromodulation such as deep brain stimulation, and plans to map how drug-associated cues activate the circuit.