Strengthening the accumbal indirect pathway promotes resilience to compulsive cocaine use

The authors show that the strengthening of excitatory inputs onto nucleus accumbens D2 medium spiny neurons (D2-MSNs) correlates with a weak motivation to self-administer cocaine in mice. Silencing or activating D2-MSNs enhances or suppresses the motivation to self-administer cocaine, respectively, suggesting that this pathway constrains compulsive drug seeking behaviors.