Rebalancing the Addicted Brain: Oxytocin Interference with the Neural Substrates of Addiction

Michael T Bowen; Inga D Neumann

doi:10.1016/j.tins.2017.10.003

Rebalancing the Addicted Brain: Oxytocin Interference with the Neural Substrates of Addiction

Trends Neurosci. 2017 Dec;40(12):691-708. doi: 10.1016/j.tins.2017.10.003. Epub 2017 Nov 8.

Authors

Michael T Bowen¹, Inga D Neumann²

Affiliations

¹ The University of Sydney, Faculty of Science, School of Psychology, Sydney, NSW, Australia; The University of Sydney, Brain and Mind Centre, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
² Regensburg Center of Neuroscience, Department of Behavioural and Molecular Neurobiology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany. Electronic address: inga.neumann@biologie.uni-regensburg.de.

PMID: 29128108
DOI: 10.1016/j.tins.2017.10.003

Abstract

Drugs that act on the brain oxytocin (OXT) system may provide a much-needed treatment breakthrough for substance-use disorders. Targeting the brain OXT system has the potential to treat addiction to all major classes of addictive substance and to intervene across all stages of the addiction cycle. Emerging evidence suggests that OXT is able to interfere with such a wide range of addictive behaviours for such a wide range of addictive substances by rebalancing core neural systems that become dysregulated over the course of addiction. By improving our understanding of these interactions between OXT and the neural substrates of addiction, we will not only improve our understanding of addiction, but also our ability to effectively treat these devastating disorders.

Keywords: Addiction; Oxytocin; Substance-use disorders.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Behavior, Addictive / drug therapy
Behavior, Addictive / metabolism
Brain / drug effects*
Brain / metabolism*
Humans
Oxytocin / metabolism*
Substance-Related Disorders / drug therapy*
Substance-Related Disorders / metabolism*

Substances

Oxytocin