title: Early adverse experience and substance addiction: dopamine, oxytocin, and glucocorticoid pathways.
abstract: Substance addiction may follow a chronic, relapsing course and critically undermine the physical and psychological well-being of the affected individual and the social units of which the individual is a member. Despite the public health burden associated with substance addiction, treatment options remain suboptimal, with relapses often seen. The present review synthesizes growing insights from animal and human research to shed light upon developmental and neurobiological pathways that may increase susceptibility to addiction. We examine the dopamine system, the oxytocin system, and the glucocorticoid system, as they are particularly relevant to substance addiction. Our aim is to delineate how early adverse experience may induce long-lasting alterations in each of these systems at molecular, neuroendocrine, and behavioral levels and ultimately lead to heightened vulnerability to substance addiction. We further discuss how substance addiction in adulthood may increase the risk of suboptimal caregiving for the next generation, perpetuating the intergenerational cycle of early adverse experiences and addiction.
authors: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.|Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.|Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.|Attachment and Neurodevelopment Laboratory, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors: Sohye
authors: S
authors: Kim
authors: Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
authors: Stephanie
authors: S
authors: Kwok
authors: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Linda C
authors: LC
authors: Mayes
authors: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.|Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASAColumbia), Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.|Connecticut Mental Health Center, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Marc N
authors: MN
authors: Potenza
authors: Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut.
authors: Helena J V
authors: HJV
authors: Rutherford
authors: Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.|Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.|Attachment and Neurodevelopment Laboratory, Children's Nutrition Research Center, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.|Stead Family Department of Pediatrics, University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, Iowa.
authors: Lane
authors: L
authors: Strathearn
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D010121:Oxytocin / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*
chemical_list: D005938:Glucocorticoids; D010121:Oxytocin; D004298:Dopamine
keywords: addiction; dopamine; early adverse experience; glucocorticoid; oxytocin