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Addiction involves loss of control over use of a substance, often in the presence of physiological and psychological dependence on a substance and compulsion to continue seeking and using the substance despite possible negative consequences.
Ibogaine is a natural substance that interrupts opioid addiction but has cardiac risks. This article introduces novel ibogaine analogs that show reduced cardiac risk and enhanced neuroplasticity and therapeutic-like effects in models of opioid use disorder.
The maladaptive reward learning associated with morphine administration is shown here to be mediated by changes in dopamine-release dynamics in reward circuitry resulting from increased myelination specifically in the ventral tegmental area.
Using task-based functional MRI, we examined inpatients with heroin use disorder. We found that 15 weeks of medication-assisted treatment (including supplemental group therapy) improved impaired anterior and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex function during an inhibitory control task. Inhibitory control, a core deficit in drug addiction, may be amenable to targeted prefrontal cortex interventions.
A patient-centred system that leverages the analysis of sweat via wearable sensors may better support the management of patients with substance-use disorders.