The neurobiology of addiction

Abstract

Substance and alcohol use disorders impose large health and economic burdens on individuals, families, communities, and society. Neither prevention nor treatment efforts are effective in all individuals. Results are often modest. Advances in neuroscience and addiction research have helped to describe the neurobiological changes that occur when a person transitions from recreational substance use to a substance use disorder or addiction. Understanding both the drivers and consequences of substance use in vulnerable populations, including those whose brains are still maturing, has revealed behavioral and biological characteristics that can increase risks of addiction. These findings are particularly timely, as law‐ and policymakers are tasked to reverse the ongoing opioid epidemic, as more states legalize marijuana, as new products including electronic cigarettes and newly designed abused substances enter the legal and illegal markets, and as “deaths of despair” from alcohol and drug misuse continue.

Heavy cannabis use, dependence and the brain: a clinical perspective

“…The results of research into the effects of cannabis effects on cognition is shaped by impairments of motivation and control‐related cognitive functions, known to be impaired in other SUDs , and clear impairments of learning and memory during cannabis intoxication . SUDs are characterized by extremely strong motivations to use and loss of control over use . Repeated cannabis use is thought to sensitize and condition users to the positively experienced effects of use .…”

Cocaine-dependent acquisition of locomotor sensitization and conditioned place preference requires D1 dopaminergic signaling through a cyclic AMP, NCS-Rapgef2, ERK and Egr-1/Zif268 pathway

“…Behavioral plasticity, including locomotor sensitization and development of drug preference, is associated with psychomotor stimulant-induced neuroadaptation in brain reward circuits linked to addiction (Robinson and Berridge, 2000;Laakso et al, 2002;Fernando and Robbins, 2011;Uhl et al, 2019). Neurons in striatum, prefrontal cortex, amygdala and hippocampus that receive dopaminergic input from the ventral tegmental area (VTA) are central to psychomotor stimulant-induced neuroadaptation (Rebec and Sun, 2005;Nestler and Luscher, 2019).…”

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation to Improve the Dysfunction of Descending Pain Modulatory System Related to Opioids in Chronic Non-cancer Pain: An Integrative Review of Neurobiology and Meta-Analysis

“…The dependence motivating effects of abuse drugs occur through the activation of the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic pathway, a central system that mediates the effects of reinforcement (Uhl et al, 2019). The primary circuit of this system comprises dopaminergic neurons in the ventral tegmental area, which has connections with prefrontal cortex and accumbens nucleons, while the emotional aspects of dependence memories are associated with amygdala, hippocampus, and hypothalamus.…”

“…The amygdala is involved in the conditioned response and gives the emotional value to perception after drug use. Also, the amygdala participates in emotional memory, providing a positive or negative value of new information, whereas the hypothalamus receives the afferents of the nucleus accumbens to trigger an autonomic and neuroendocrine response (Uhl et al, 2019).…”