Opioid Dependence Permanently Changes How The Brain Processes Emotion

Rougly 50,000 people die each year from opioids.

With the United States in the midst of an opioid crisis, researchers from the University of California San Diego School of Medicine have turned their attention to studying what opioid dependence does to the brain.

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In their paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers found that the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA)-the part of the brain responsible for “ conscious perception of emotion “-had irreversible changes. More specifically, they found that long-term use of opioids caused a suppression of the nociceptin system (N/OFQ), which is responsible for modulating pain.

The researchers believe this discovery could be a game changer for how opioid abuse is treated, something that is sorely needed. They stated, “The development of small molecules that target the N/OFQ system may have therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of opioid use disorder.”