title: 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.affiliation: The Laboratory of the Biology of Addictive Diseases, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: yan.zhou@rockefeller.edu.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Leri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016739:Behavior, Addictive / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D007030:Hypothalamo-Hypophyseal System / Q000187:drug effects*; D053610:Opiate Alkaloids / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000494:pharmacology; D010913:Pituitary-Adrenal System / Q000187:drug effects*; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology
chemical_list: D053610:Opiate Alkaloids
keywords: Dynorphin; HPA axis; Heroin addiction; Opioid receptor; Orexin; POMC; Stress; V1b receptor; Vasopressin