The Neuroscience, Neurobiology of Alcohol and Drug Addiction: A Discussion
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47604/ijp.2222Keywords:
Neuroscience, Neurobiology, Drug AddictionAbstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the neuroscience and neurobiology of alcohol and drug addiction. The study of neuroscience and neurobiology of alcohol and drug addiction will help to understand the relationship between addiction and brain functioning.
Methodology: The study utilized a systematic review of literature to study alcohol and drug addiction by identifying parts of the human brain responsible for addiction, stages of addiction, elements of addiction, and effects of different drugs on the brain. The main theories of addiction guiding the research were the Incentive-Sensitization theory and the Disease Theory.
Findings: The outcome from the paper showed addiction is a chronic illness that contributes to significant impairments in social function, health, and in lack of control over drug use. The three stages of addiction are intoxication/ binge, withdrawal, and anticipation. Also, it was found out basal ganglia, extended amygdala, and the prefrontal cortex are the main parts of the brain responsible for drug addiction.
Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The outcome from the paper has contributed towards advancing the knowledge of drug addiction by establishing evidence-based approaches for identifying the neurobiology and neuroscience of drug addiction. Findings can be utilized in developing policies and frameworks that guide the use of drugs, especially prescription drugs like opioids. Moreover, findings help in advancing the practice in medicine by recommending new pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments to prevent and control addiction.
Downloads
References
American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders, 5th edn Washington DC: American Psychiatric Publishing.
Belin, D., Jonkman, S., Dickinson, A., Robbins, T. W., & Everitt, B. J. (2009). Parallel and interactive learning processes within the basal ganglia: Relevance for the understanding of addiction. Behavioural Brain Research, 199(1), 89-102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbr.2008.09.027
Brownstein, H. H. (2015). The handbook of drugs and society. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons.
Deitrich, R. (2011). Ethanol as a Prodrug: Brain Metabolism of Ethanol Mediates Its Reinforcing Effects - A Commentary. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35(4), 581-583. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-0277.2011.01454.x
Fowler, A. K., Thompson, J., Chen, L., Dagda, M., Dertien, J., Dossou, K. S. S., Moaddel, R., Bergeson, S. E., & Kruman, I. I. (2014). Differential Sensitivity of Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampus to Alcohol-Induced Toxicity. PLoS ONE, 9(9), e106945. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0106945
Goldstein, R., Tomasi, D., Rajaram, S., Cottone, L., Zhang, L., Maloney, T., Telang, F., Alia-Klein, N., & Volkow, N. (2007). Role of the anterior cingulate and medial orbitofrontal cortex in processing drug cues in cocaine addiction. Neuroscience, 144(4), 1153-1159. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroscience.2006.11.024.
Howard, S. (2014). Drugs of Abuse: Pharmacology and molecular mechanisms. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Kilts, C. D. (2001). Imaging the roles of the amygdala in drug addiction. Psychopharmacol Bull, 35(1), 84-94. PMID: 12397873.
Koob, G. F. & Volkow, N. D. (2010). Neurocircuitry of addiction. Neuropsychopharmacology, 35(1), 217-238.
Koob, G. F., Karde D. B., Baler R. D., & Volkow N, D. (2015). Pathopsychology of addiction. In: Tasman A, Kay J, Lieberman JA, First MB, Riba M, editors. Psychiatry (4th Ed). New York, NY: Wiley-Blackwell.
Koob, G. F., & Volkow, N. D. (2016). Neurobiology of addiction: a neurocircuitry analysis. The Lancet Psychiatry, 3(8), 760-773. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2215-0366 (16)00104-8
Lewis, M. (2017). Addiction and the Brain: Development, Not Disease. Neuroethics, 10(1), 7-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-016-9293-4
Lundahl, L. H., & Johanson, C. E. (2011). Cue-induced craving for marijuana in cannabis-dependent adults. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology, 19(3), 224-230. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023030
Mosel, S. (2022, May). Effects of alcohol in the brain (Long & short term effects). Retrieved 25 May 2022 from https://americanaddictioncenters.org/alcoholism-treatment/mental-effects
National Libraries of Medicine. (2016). The neurobiology of substance use, misuse, and addiction, in Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US); Office of the Surgeon General (US).
Powledge, T. M. (1999). Addiction and the brain: The dopamine pathway is helping researchers find their way through the addiction maze, BioScience, 49(7), 513-519, doi: https://doi.org/10.2307/1313471
Roberto, M., Gilpin, N. W., & Siggins, G. R. (2012). The Central Amygdala and Alcohol: Role of -Aminobutyric Acid, Glutamate, and Neuropeptides. Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine, 2(12), a012195. https://doi.org/10.1101/cshperspect.a012195
Robinson, T. E. & Berridge, K. C. (2008). Review. The incentive sensitization theory of addiction: Some current issues. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 363(1507), 3137-46. doi: 10.1098/rstb.2008.0093. PMID: 18640920; PMCID: PMC2607325.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (US) & Office of the Surgeon
General (US). (2016). Facing Addiction in America: The Surgeon General's Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health [Internet]. Washington (DC): US Department of Health and Human Services. The neurobiology of substance use, misuse, and addiction. Retrieved 26 June 2022 from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK424849/
Swift, R. M. Aston, E. R. (2015). Pharmacotherapy for alcohol use disorder: Current and emerging therapies. Harvard Review of Psychiatry, 23(2):122-133.
Volkow, N. D., Tomasi, D., Wang, G. J., Logan, J., Alexoff, D. L., Jayne, M., Fowler, J. S., Wong, C., Yin, P., & Du, C. (2014). Stimulant-induced dopamine increases are markedly blunted in active cocaine abusers. Molecular Psychiatry, 19(9), 1037-1043. https://doi.org/10.1038/mp.2014.58
Welcome, M., & Pereverzev, V. (2013). Basal Ganglia and the Error Monitoring and Processing System: How Alcohol Modulates the Error Monitoring and Processing Capacity of the Basal Ganglia. In F. A. Barrios, & C. Bauer (Eds.), Basal Ganglia - An Integrative View. IntechOpen. https://doi.org/10.5772/54284
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Margaret Gatavi Njeru
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) 4.0 License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.