Topic: aVMAT2

Substance use disorders (SUD) has a significant impact on human wellbeing and carries a high economic cost in the modern world. Astrocytes are known to participate in all major aspects of brain functions by regulating extracellular levels of neuroactive molecules. Notably, astrocytes were previously shown to critically adjust levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) through astroglial vesicular monoamine transporter 2 (aVMAT2). Our recent data also indicate aVMAT2 expression in the nucleus accumbens (NAcc)., As SUD engages common neural pathways involved in natural reward processing i