A complex gene program initiates brain changes in response to cocaine

Researchers used single-nucleus RNA sequencing to compare transcriptional responses to acute cocaine in 16 unique cell populations from the brain nucleus accumbens. The atlas is part of a major study that used multiple cutting-edge technologies to describe a dopamine-induced gene expression signature that regulates the brain’s response to cocaine. The study shows neurobiological processes that control drug-related adaptations and reveals new information about how transcriptional mechanisms regulate activity-dependent processes within the central nervous system.