Choice, Addiction and Neurodysfunctions (Candy)
Our research activities focus on the psychological and neurobiological determinants of the different stages of addiction (i.e., escalation of drug use, transition to compulsion, abstinence and relapse) to drugs of abuse, like cocaine, nicotine, heroin and alcohol. We also study other behaviors such as overconsumption of sweet foods.
To tackle these questions, we use an animal model approach combined with innovative behavioral procedures, specially designed to probe the psychological processes that underlie drug choices and preferences. We use state-of-the-art methods for in vivo recording and manipulation of neuronal activity in discrete brain circuits in behaving rats, transcriptomics, but also immunohistochemistry methods for large-scale mapping of brain functional activity.
Mots clés
Assemblées neuronales, Attention, Comportement, Craving, Neurophysiologie, Optogénétique, Rechute, addiction, choix, circuits neuronaux, decision-making, preference, transcriptomiqueSelected publications
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Remission from addiction: erasing the wrong circuits or making new ones?
Michel Engeln, Serge H. Ahmed.
Nat. Rev. Neurosci.. 2024-12-11.
DOI: 10.1038/s41583-024-00886-y -
The multiple faces of footshock punishment in animal research on addiction
Michel Engeln, Serge H. Ahmed.
Neurobiology of Learning and Memory. 2024-06-01. : 107955.
DOI: 10.1016/j.nlm.2024.107955 -
Bidirectional relationship between attentional deficits and escalation of nicotine intake in male rats
Caroline Vouillac-Mendoza, Serge H. Ahmed, Karine Guillem.
Psychopharmacology. 2024-05-14.
DOI: 10.1007/s00213-024-06604-x -
A large-scale c-Fos brain mapping study on extinction of cocaine-primed reinstatement
Magalie Lenoir, Michel Engeln, Sylvia Navailles, Paul Girardeau, Serge H. Ahmed.
Neuropsychopharmacol.. 2024-04-25.
DOI: 10.1038/s41386-024-01867-6 -
Knowledge by omission: the significance of omissions in the 5-choice serial reaction time task
Caroline Vouillac-Mendoza, Audrey Durand, Serge H. Ahmed, Karine Guillem.
Psychopharmacology. 2024-03-06.
DOI: 10.1007/s00213-024-06564-2 -
The importance of choice and agency in animal models of addiction
Serge H. Ahmed.
J Neural Transm. 2023-10-31.
DOI: 10.1007/s00702-023-02712-8 -
Large‐scale brain correlates of sweet versus cocaine reward in rats
Magalie Lenoir, Sylvia Navailles, Youna Vandaele, Caroline Vouillac‐Mendoza, Karine Guillem, Serge H. Ahmed.
Eur J of Neuroscience. 2022-12-01.
DOI: 10.1111/ejn.15879
Team member(s)
Chercheurs, Praticiens hospitaliers...
Magalie Lenoir Lenoir (Researcher)
Michel Engeln Englen (Researcher)
Ingénieur(e)s, technicien(ne)s
Post-doctorant(s)
Doctorant(s)
Neuropsychologist(s) and speech therapist(s)
Ingénieur(s) hospitalier(s) et ARC