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The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia

Emerging evidence from both basic and clinical research demonstrates an important role for endocannabinoid (ECB) signaling in the processing of emotionally salient information, learning, and memory. Cannabinoid transmission within neural circuits involved in emotional processing has been shown to mo...

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Autores principales: Tan, Huibing, Ahmad, Tasha, Loureiro, Michael, Zunder, Jordan, Laviolette, Steven R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4074769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25071606
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00073
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author Tan, Huibing
Ahmad, Tasha
Loureiro, Michael
Zunder, Jordan
Laviolette, Steven R.
author_facet Tan, Huibing
Ahmad, Tasha
Loureiro, Michael
Zunder, Jordan
Laviolette, Steven R.
author_sort Tan, Huibing
collection PubMed
description Emerging evidence from both basic and clinical research demonstrates an important role for endocannabinoid (ECB) signaling in the processing of emotionally salient information, learning, and memory. Cannabinoid transmission within neural circuits involved in emotional processing has been shown to modulate the acquisition, recall, and extinction of emotionally salient memories and importantly, can strongly modulate the emotional salience of incoming sensory information. Two neural regions in particular, the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA), play important roles in emotional regulation and contain high levels of cannabinoid receptors. Furthermore, both regions show profound abnormalities in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction and schizophrenia. Considerable evidence has demonstrated that cannabinoid transmission functionally interacts with dopamine (DA), a neurotransmitter system that is of exceptional importance for both addictive behaviors and the neuropsychopathology of disorders like schizophrenia. Research in our laboratory has focused on how cannabinoid transmission both within and extrinsic to the mesolimbic DA system, including the BLA → mPFC circuitry, can modulate both rewarding and aversive emotional information. In this review, we will summarize clinical and basic neuroscience research demonstrating the importance of cannabinoid signaling within this neural circuitry. In particular, evidence will be reviewed emphasizing the importance of cannabinoid signaling within the BLA → mPFC circuitry in the context of emotional salience processing, memory formation and memory-related plasticity. We propose that aberrant states of hyper or hypoactive ECB signaling within the amygdala-prefrontal cortical circuit may lead to dysregulation of mesocorticolimbic DA transmission controlling the processing of emotionally salient information. These disturbances may in turn lead to emotional processing, learning, and memory abnormalities related to various neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction and schizophrenia-related psychoses.
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spelling pubmed-40747692014-07-28 The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia Tan, Huibing Ahmad, Tasha Loureiro, Michael Zunder, Jordan Laviolette, Steven R. Front Psychiatry Psychiatry Emerging evidence from both basic and clinical research demonstrates an important role for endocannabinoid (ECB) signaling in the processing of emotionally salient information, learning, and memory. Cannabinoid transmission within neural circuits involved in emotional processing has been shown to modulate the acquisition, recall, and extinction of emotionally salient memories and importantly, can strongly modulate the emotional salience of incoming sensory information. Two neural regions in particular, the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the basolateral nucleus of the amygdala (BLA), play important roles in emotional regulation and contain high levels of cannabinoid receptors. Furthermore, both regions show profound abnormalities in neuropsychiatric disorders such as addiction and schizophrenia. Considerable evidence has demonstrated that cannabinoid transmission functionally interacts with dopamine (DA), a neurotransmitter system that is of exceptional importance for both addictive behaviors and the neuropsychopathology of disorders like schizophrenia. Research in our laboratory has focused on how cannabinoid transmission both within and extrinsic to the mesolimbic DA system, including the BLA → mPFC circuitry, can modulate both rewarding and aversive emotional information. In this review, we will summarize clinical and basic neuroscience research demonstrating the importance of cannabinoid signaling within this neural circuitry. In particular, evidence will be reviewed emphasizing the importance of cannabinoid signaling within the BLA → mPFC circuitry in the context of emotional salience processing, memory formation and memory-related plasticity. We propose that aberrant states of hyper or hypoactive ECB signaling within the amygdala-prefrontal cortical circuit may lead to dysregulation of mesocorticolimbic DA transmission controlling the processing of emotionally salient information. These disturbances may in turn lead to emotional processing, learning, and memory abnormalities related to various neuropsychiatric disorders, including addiction and schizophrenia-related psychoses. Frontiers Media S.A. 2014-06-30 /pmc/articles/PMC4074769/ /pubmed/25071606 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00073 Text en Copyright © 2014 Tan, Ahmad, Loureiro, Zunder and Laviolette. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Psychiatry
Tan, Huibing
Ahmad, Tasha
Loureiro, Michael
Zunder, Jordan
Laviolette, Steven R.
The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia
title The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia
title_full The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia
title_fullStr The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia
title_full_unstemmed The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia
title_short The Role of Cannabinoid Transmission in Emotional Memory Formation: Implications for Addiction and Schizophrenia
title_sort role of cannabinoid transmission in emotional memory formation: implications for addiction and schizophrenia
topic Psychiatry
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4074769/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25071606
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpsyt.2014.00073
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