Abstinence from heroin self-administration increases dendritic spine head diameter and the proportion of mushroom spines in rat prelimbic cortical neurons projecting to the paraventricular thalamus

Relapse to opioid use remains the principal obstacle to recovery, often driven by enduring neuroadaptations that sustain vulnerability across abstinence. We have previously shown that the projection from the rat prelimbic cortex (PL) to the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is functionally potentiated