Research focus
This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Opioid overdoses and opioid use disorder (OUD) are major public health concerns.”
Key finding: Overall, these findings establish Qβ-VLP conjugated vaccines for heroin and fentanyl as promising opioid vaccine candidates.
Why this may help: This may help explain why addiction can involve brain, behavior, mental health, craving, relapse, or treatment factors rather than simple willpower alone. It should be read as research information, not personal medical advice.
This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, withdrawal, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Existing pharmacological treatment options for opioid use disorder (OUD) face challenges that limit their efficacy.”
Key finding: This review adopts a translational approach to achieve several aims: (1) to outline the fundamental theories of orexin system function and relate orexinergic dysfunction to the disordered motivation and withdrawal states that characterize OUD; (2) to provide an up-to-date evaluation of preclinical and clinical evidence bases supporting the efficacy of orexin receptor antagonism for the treatment of OUD; (3) to discuss key clinical considerations of repurposing DORAs for OUD treatment, including safety and side effects (i.e., respiratory depression, anhedonia, and risk for abuse); and (4) to highlight the ongoing clinical efforts to determine therapeutic efficacy and safety profiles of DORAs for use in OUD populations.
Translational Psychiatry • 24 Oct 2025 • Reviews
opioidwithdrawalcravingrelapsemental healthtreatment
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cocaine, brain science, withdrawal. The source abstract begins by describing: “Persistent vulnerability to drug-seeking is driven by enduring synaptic adaptations, yet current μ-opioid receptor-targeting pharmacotherapies provide limited efficacy against these neuroadaptations.”
Key finding: By targeting a pathway independent of classical opioid receptor signaling, CA4 inhibition represents a mechanistically distinct strategy that may reduce relapse vulnerability in OUD.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 21 Jan 2026 • Research
opioidcocainebrain sciencewithdrawalrelapsetreatment
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, alcohol, cannabis, nicotine. The source abstract begins by describing: “Despite the benefits associated with longer buprenorphine treatment duration (i.e., >180 days) (BTD) for opioid use disorder (OUD), retention remains poor.”
Key finding: Longer BTD is associated with diagnoses of psychiatric and somatic conditions in the EHR, as is the genetic score for OUD, loneliness, problematic alcohol use, and externalizing disorders.
Translational Psychiatry • 10 Jan 2024 • Research
opioidalcoholcannabisnicotinegeneticsmental health
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, relapse, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing disorder that, whilst initially driven by activation of brain reward neurocircuits, increasingly engages anti-reward neurocircuits that drive adverse emotional states and relapse.”
Key finding: This Primer by Strang, Volkow and colleagues discusses the risk factors of opioid use disorder, together with its epidemiology, mechanisms, diagnosis and treatment.
Nature Reviews Disease Primers • 09 Jan 2020 • Reviews
opioidbrain sciencerelapsetreatmentreview
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This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, withdrawal, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic relapsing disorder that is a major burden for the lives of affected individuals, and society as a whole.”
Key finding: Altogether, these animal models will contribute to study behavioural and neuronal circuitries involved in the several negative affective signs characterizing OUD.
Scientific Reports • 29 Apr 2024 • Research
opioidbrain sciencewithdrawalrelapsemental healthtreatment
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