Neuroscience of opiates for addiction medicine: From stress-responsive systems to behavior.

Abstract

Opiate addiction, similarly to addiction to other psychoactive drugs, is chronic relapsing brain disease caused by drug-induced short-term and long-term neuroadaptations at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral levels. Preclinical research in laboratory animals has found important interactions between opiate exposure and stress-responsive systems. In this review, we will discuss the dysregulation of several stress-responsive systems in opiate addiction: vasopressin and its receptor system, endogenous opioid systems (including proopiomelanocortin/mu opioid receptor and dynorphin/kappa opioid receptor), orexin and its receptor system, and the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. A more complete understanding of how opiates alter these stress systems, through further laboratory-based studies, is required to identify novel and effective pharmacological targets for the long-term treatment of heroin addiction.

• Authors: Yan Zhou, Francesco Leri
• Journal: Progress in brain research (Prog Brain Res) Vol. 223 Pg. 237-51 ( 2016) ISSN: 1875-7855 [Electronic] Netherlands
• PMID: 26806779 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Review)
• Copyright: © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Opiate Alkaloids

Topics

• Animals
• Behavior, Addictive (physiopathology, psychology)
• Brain (drug effects, physiopathology)
• Humans
• Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System (drug effects)
• Opiate Alkaloids (adverse effects, pharmacology)
• Pituitary-Adrenal System (drug effects)
• Stress, Psychological (physiopathology, psychology)