The “Psychobiology of Drug Addiction” group of the University of Valencia focuses on the study of the neurobiological mechanisms of addictive behavior, specifically:
- Our main line of the research is the study of the neurobiological mechanisms of relapse, since it is one of the key processes to understand addictive behavior as a chronic and recurrent disorder.
- We also study the particular effects that drug use occurs during adolescence, as it is a critical period in the development of the central nervous system.
- Although epidemiological studies show that the usual pattern of consumption is poly drug use, most studies evaluate the effects of a single drug. Therefore, our research group has developed a model of poly drug abuse more appropriate for adolescent drug abuse.
- Finally our group studies the neurobiological mechanisms of sensitisation as a phenomenon related to the addictiveness of a drug, which can help understand the transition from the use to the compulsive abuse characteristic of addiction.
Our main lines of research are:
- Involvement of the glutamatergic and GABAergic systems in relaps.
- Influence of stress in relapse
- Reinforcing effect, relapse and neurotoxicity of MDMA
- Prevention of relapse due to social factors.
- Effects of prenatal exposure to cocaine
- Poly drug abuse of MDMA, cocaine and alcohol in adolescents
- Long-term effects of poly drug abuse during adolescence
- Involvement of NMDA receptors and nitric oxide in sensitisation to morphine
