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TL;DR: A 2026 rat study in Brain Structure and Function found that ventral pallidum activity supports juvenile social play, while activating inhibitory nucleus accumbens inputs to the ventral pallidum reduced play behavior in both male and female rats. Key Fin…
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TL;DR: A 2025 systematic review in Translational Psychiatry found that substance use disorder was associated with recurring resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), a scan of spontaneous brain-network communication, abnormalities in reward and self-control circ…
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How Cocaine Rewires the Brain’s Reward Circuit TL;DR: Cocaine hijacks a transcription factor called FosB in a brain circuit connecting the hippocampus to the nucleus accumbens, suppressing neural excitability and driving compulsive drug-seeking behavior—a mech…
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