Synaptic plasticity in cocaine-seeking ensembles of the nucleus accumbens core
Levi T. Flom, Skylar L. Hodgins, German Gutierrez Erives, Jordan M. Russelavage, Samuel M. Hyken, Zhaojie Zhang, Christopher E. Vaaga, Ana-Clara Bobadilla · 2026
Read Synaptic plasticity in cocaine-seeking ensembles of the nucleus accumbens core by Levi T. Flom, Skylar L. Hodgins, German Gutierrez Erives, Jordan M. Russelavage, Samuel M. Hyken, Zhaojie Zhang, Christopher E. Vaaga, Ana-Clara Bobadilla (2026) in the Tower of Babel, a free online library of public-domain works preserved in clean, searchable text. No sign-up. The full text is served as a plain-text file at a predictable URL, where text is present: https://antarctic-labs.com/tower-of-babel/pmc-13597511.txt.
Description
Levi Flom and co-authors study, in a 2026 paper, the small groups of brain cells that drive cocaine seeking in mice. These groups, called ensembles, switch on together during specific experiences. They sit in a reward hub of the brain and reactivate when drug cues return.
The team tagged the active cells during seeking after mice had learned to self-administer the drug, then quit, then faced cues again. They imaged the cells' tiny contact spines and measured signal strength at those contacts. Earlier work had seen contact changes in mixed cell pools, not in the seeking group itself. Seeing change inside the exact group matters for any future therapy aimed at relapse. The study ties memory-like cell groups to lasting wiring shifts.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Levi T. Flom, Skylar L. Hodgins, German Gutierrez Erives, Jordan M. Russelavage, Samuel M. Hyken, Zhaojie Zhang, Christopher E. Vaaga, Ana-Clara Bobadilla |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 41 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |