Korea Brain Research Institute (KBRI, President Pann Ghill Suh) announced on May 26 that a joint research team, led by Prof. Joung-Hun Kim and Dr. Joo Han Lee at the Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Dr. Ja Wook Koo at the KBRI, and Prof. Eric Nestler at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, discovered that dopamine D2 receptors (DRD2s) in cholinergic interneurons (ChINs) play a crucial role in cocaine addiction.
The findings were published in Biological Psychiatry, a leading academic journal in the field of psychiatry. The title and authors of the paper are as follows:
- Title: Dopaminergic regulation of nucleus accumbens cholinergic interneurons demarcates susceptibility to cocaine addiction
- Authors: Joo Han Lee (first author), Efrain A. Ribeiro, Jeongseop Kim, Bumjin Ko, Hope Kronman, Yun Ha Jeong, Jong Kyoung Kim, Patricia H. Janak, Eric J. Nestler, Ja Wook Koo, Joung-Hun Kim (corresponding author)