This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, craving, relapse, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Although alcohol use disorder (AUD) is highly prevalent, only a few medications are approved for its treatment leaving much room for improvement.”
Key finding: Clinical Trials Registry: DRKS00029993.
Molecular Psychiatry • 12 Dec 2024 • Research
alcoholcravingrelapsetreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
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
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on methamphetamine, craving, relapse, mental health. The source abstract begins by describing: “Reducing psychological craving is critical for preventing relapse in methamphetamine use disorder (MUD).”
Key finding: Clinical trial number: This randomized controlled trial was registered with the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (Code: ChiCTR1800020014).
Translational Psychiatry • 26 Aug 2025 • Research
methamphetaminecravingrelapsemental healthtreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, dopamine, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Preclinical studies support an important role of dopamine D3 receptors (DRD3s) in alcohol use disorder (AUD).”
Key finding: Furthermore, the finding that binding in the SN is associated with alcohol demand warrants further examination.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 04 Aug 2021 • Research
alcoholdopaminecravingrelapsetreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on methamphetamine, craving, relapse, mental health. The source abstract begins by describing: “Methamphetamine (METH) abuse is characterised by chronic relapse and anxiety, for which there are no effective pharmacotherapies.”
Key finding: Using a translatable addiction model, these findings demonstrate the therapeutic efficacy of chronic oxytocin after METH self-administration and supports the clinical utility of oxytocin for METH addiction in both sexes.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 12 Nov 2019 • Research
methamphetaminecravingrelapsemental healthtreatmentanimal study
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, nicotine, brain science, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “Chronic alcohol use has important effects on the glutamate system.”
Key finding: These findings provide human evidence consistent with a robust preclinical literature supporting mGlu5 receptor drugs as pharmacotherapies for AUD.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 12 Sept 2020 • Research
alcoholnicotinebrain sciencecravingrelapse
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, brain science, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “The Neural Craving Signature (NCS), a machine learning derived neuroimaging biomarker, differentiates individuals with from those without substance use disorders (SUDs), but has not been evaluated for predicting clinical outcomes.”
Key finding: These findings provide initial support for the NCS as a predictor of clinical outcomes in AUD.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 25 Feb 2026 • Research
alcoholbrain sciencecravingrelapse
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on methamphetamine, craving, relapse, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Methamphetamine (METH) is a widely abused stimulant that affects the central nervous system.”
Key finding: Salivary cortisol is a readily accessible and sensitive biomarker for evaluating intervention effects.
Translational Psychiatry • 18 Jul 2025 • Research
methamphetaminecravingrelapsetreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, brain science, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Models of relapse have demonstrated that neuroadaptations in reward circuits following cocaine self-administration (SA) underlie reinstatement of drug-seeking.”
Key finding: These data indicate that SFK activity is necessary for BDNF-mediated suppression of cocaine-seeking and reversal of cocaine-induced dephosphorylation of key phosphoproteins in the prefrontal cortex related to synaptic plasticity.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 06 Jun 2017 • Research
cocainebrain sciencecravingrelapseanimal study
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on methamphetamine, brain science, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Methamphetamine (METH) addiction involves escalating intake with strong cue reactivity, and high relapse risk, yet its neural mechanism remains unclear.”
Key finding: Specifically, the CLA → ACC circuit modulates intake, while reciprocal ACC → CLA circuit drive cue-induced relapse, revealing a maladaptive positive feedback loop that perpetuates METH addiction.
Nature Communications • 25 Jul 2025 • Research
methamphetaminebrain sciencecravingrelapsegenetics
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, relapse, mental health, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD) is a leading indication for liver transplantation (LT) worldwide, including Korea, where living donor LT from family members are common.”
Key finding: Future interventions should integrate family support and psychological care to prevent and manage alcohol consumption in LT recipients with ALD.
Scientific Reports • 05 Aug 2025 • Research
alcoholrelapsemental healthtreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on nicotine, craving, relapse, treatment. The source abstract begins by describing: “Preclinical research with rodents suggests that the L-type calcium channel blocker isradipine can enhance long-term extinction of conditioned place preference for addictive substances when it is administered in conjunction with extinction training.”
Neuropsychopharmacology • 24 May 2024 • Research
nicotinecravingrelapsetreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on cannabis, brain science, withdrawal, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cannabis withdrawal in cannabis use disorder (CUD) increase the risk of relapse and lacks effective treatments.”
Key finding: Increases in FAAH (%ΔFAAH whole-brain) were significantly associated with longer cannabis abstinence, greater baseline depression severity, and tendency to act without thinking ( p
Neuropsychopharmacology • 09 May 2026 • Research
cannabisbrain sciencewithdrawalcravingrelapsemental health
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on alcohol, cannabis, brain science, withdrawal. The source abstract begins by describing: “Alcohol use disorder (AUD) remains a pervasive public health issue with limited effective treatments.”
Key finding: These findings indicate that chronic CBD administration attenuates both behavioral and neurobiological facets of alcohol dependence by modulating neuronal excitability and preventing neurodegeneration, supporting its therapeutic potential for AUD and providing mechanistic insights for future research.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 10 Jul 2025 • Research
alcoholcannabisbrain sciencewithdrawalrelapsegenetics
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, dopamine, brain science, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “Cocaine addiction causes serious health problems, and no effective treatment is available yet.”
Key finding: To conclude, we found that heterozygous deletion of the Plcb1 gene decreases cue-induced reinstatement of cocaine-seeking, pointing at PLCB1 as a possible therapeutic target for preventing relapse and treating cocaine addiction.
Translational Psychiatry • 11 Oct 2021 • Research
cocainedopaminebrain sciencecravingrelapsegenetics
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, cocaine, brain science, withdrawal. The source abstract begins by describing: “Evidence indicates that the anterior (aIC), but not posterior (pIC), insular cortex promotes cued reinstatement of cocaine seeking after extinction in rats.”
Key finding: Moreover, the incubation of craving results suggest that new contingency learning is necessary to recruit the aIC in cued heroin seeking.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 18 Mar 2024 • Research
opioidcocainebrain sciencewithdrawalcravingrelapse
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on nicotine, brain science, withdrawal, craving. The source abstract begins by describing: “Most cigarette smokers who wish to quit too often relapse within the first few days of abstinence, primarily due to the aversive aspects of the nicotine withdrawal syndrome (NWS), which remains poorly understood.”
Key finding: These multimodal imaging-behavioral findings reveal the complex cascade of changes induced by acute nicotine deprivation and call for further investigation into the potential utility of adenosine- and glutamate-signaling as novel therapeutic targets to treat the NWS.
Neuropsychopharmacology • 19 Jun 2020 • Research
nicotinebrain sciencewithdrawalcravingrelapsetreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
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
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on opioid, brain science, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been suggested to be a safe and effective therapeutic option for drug addiction.”
Key finding: The present study suggested that DBS of the NAc/ALIC is effective for reducing heroin craving and preventing relapse in the long term and may reverse motivational attentional bias from drug-related stimuli to pleasant stimuli for heroin-addicted individuals.
Translational Psychiatry • 17 Oct 2025 • Research
opioidbrain sciencecravingrelapsemental healthtreatment
Read plain-English summary Open source
This article may help explain addiction science through research on cocaine, brain science, craving, relapse. The source abstract begins by describing: “One of the greatest challenges in treating addiction is preventing relapse during abstinence.”
Key finding: Such work has the potential to identify new therapeutic targets and to further our understanding of experience-dependent plasticity in the adult brain under normal circumstances and in the context of addiction.
Nature Reviews Neuroscience • 06 May 2016 • Reviews
cocainebrain sciencecravingrelapsereviewanimal study
Read plain-English summary Open source