Research Highlights | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

A New Tool for Investigating HIV in the Brain

August 7, 2018 | In this research: Researchers developed a tool that enables them to closely monitor HIV activity in key brain cells. The tool may accelerate the development of treatments for HIV in...

NIDA Notes

Adolescent Marijuana Use Is Linked to Altered Neural Circuitry and Mood Symptoms

| En español

August 3, 2018 | Some teens's marijuana use has been linked to disrupted communication between two key regions in the brain's reward circuitry at age 20. Disrupted communication between the regions was associated with...

NIDA Notes

E-Cigarettes Promote Smoking Progression in Youth and Depress Quitting Among Adults

August 2, 2018 | E-cigarettes are not an effective tool to reduce combustible-cigarette smoking, two NIDA-supported studies indicate.

Science Highlight

Pregnant women in Appalachia face barriers to opioid treatment

July 26, 2018 | A NIDA-funded study has discovered that pregnant women in Appalachia face barriers to receiving medication-assisted treatment for opioid use disorders, from both insurers and providers.

NIDA Notes

Amphetamine Diverts the Brain’s Path to Maturity

| En español

July 26, 2018 | This research: Sheds light on a key mechanism of adolescent brain development. Shows how amphetamine disrupts this mechanism. Links this disruption to animal behaviors that resemble human susceptibility to addiction...

Nora's Blog

NIH Partners with the Dental Community to Help Curb the Opioid Crisis

| En español

July 25, 2018 | Reducing healthcare’s reliance on potentially addictive opioid pain relievers has been one of the pillars of federal efforts to reverse the opioid crisis.

NIDA Notes

As Opioid Use Disorders Increased, Prescriptions for Treatment Did Not Keep Pace

July 2, 2018 | Several effective medications are now available for treating opioid use disorder but many patients who could benefit do not receive them. Some patients who receive the medications face challenges to...

Nora's Blog

FDA Approves First Drug Derived from Marijuana

| En español

July 2, 2018 | This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Epidiolex (cannabidiol, or CBD), a medication extracted from marijuana, for the treatment of two severe pediatric seizure disorders.

Science Highlight

A revealing look at the brain on heroin

June 29, 2018 | A NIDA-funded study reveals major changes in the brains of heroin users.

Science Highlight

Scientists discover path to better pain medicines

June 26, 2018 | In this this NIDA-funded research, scientists used a novel approach to compare the cell signaling initiated by kappa opioids that produce dysphoria from those that do not.

NIDA Notes

Outcomes of Computerized CBT Rival Those of Clinician-Delivered CBT

June 25, 2018 | This clinical trial: Found that patients who self-administered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) using computerized training modules reduced their drug use as much as patients who received clinician-delivered CBT, and they...

NIDA Notes

In Animals, Opioid Combination Shows Promise for Safer Pain Relief

June 19, 2018 | This study found that: In rats, co-administration with nalfurafine reduced the dose of oxycodone required to lower pain responses in models of human chronic pain. The combination treatment generated less...

NIDA Notes

Novel Compound Alleviates Hard-to-Treat Pain in Mice

June 14, 2018 | A novel compound called GAT211 alleviates inflammatory and neuropathic pain in mice without producing tolerance or signs of abuse liability.

NIDA Notes

A Gene Links Impulsivity and Drug Use Vulnerability

June 14, 2018 | This research: Identified a gene variant that promotes impulsive behavior and enhanced responses to heroin in rats. Linked the corresponding human gene variant to increased risk for impulsivity and drug...

Nora's Blog

An Ambitious Research Plan to Help Solve the Opioid Crisis

| En español

June 12, 2018 | In spring 2018, Congress added an additional $500 million to the NIH budget to invest in science to find solutions to the opioid crisis. The funding that NIDA is receiving...

Science Highlight

Too Hot And Too Cold: Dysregulation of key brain networks in people with addiction

June 8, 2018 | Study suggests that brain activity is not simply too high or low in people who are addicted to drugs, but behaves differently to drug and non-drug stimuli.

NIDA Notes

Cigarette Smoking Increases the Likelihood of Drug Use Relapse

May 31, 2018 | This research: Found that cigarette smoking increased the likelihood of relapse among people in recovery from substance use disorder (SUD). Suggests that helping patients quit and remain abstinent from smoking...

Science Highlight

Breathing under the influence of … fentanyl

May 30, 2018 | An animal study at NIDA's intramural research labs suggests fentanyl-induced respiratory depression affects the temperature of the brain, triggering brain hypoxia and hyperglycemia.

Nora's Blog

NIDA-Supported Science Leads to First FDA-Approved Medication for Opioid Withdrawal

| En español

May 16, 2018 | This week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lofexidine, the first medication targeted specifically to treat the physical symptoms associated with opioid withdrawal.

Science Highlight

What science says about Tobacco + Marijuana + Pregnancy

May 11, 2018 | A NIDA-funded study suggests that pregnant women who smoke both marijuana and cigarettes have a higher likelihood of smaller babies and increased maternal stress and aggression.

Nora's Blog

Million-Participant NIH Study Could Yield Important Insights into Addiction and Pain

| En español

May 7, 2018 | New data-gathering and analytic capabilities are enabling the kinds of massive, long-term studies needed to investigate genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors that contribute to disease.

NIDA Notes

Narrative of Discovery: The Quest for a Medication To Treat Methamphetamine Addiction, Part 3

May 4, 2018 | Dr. Linda Dwoskin feels just one small step away from success in her effort to develop the first-ever medication to treat methamphetamine addiction. She and colleagues at the Universities of...

Nora's Blog

The True, Deadly Scope of America’s Fentanyl Problem

| En español

May 1, 2018 | Today, a new analysis in JAMA by epidemiologists at NIDA and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration reveals the scope of the crisis, and the rapidity with which...

NIDA Notes

Fear of Distress Signals Risk for Opioid Misuse in Chronic Pain Patients

April 24, 2018 | In this research: Among patients with chronic pain, those who reported less ability to tolerate physical or emotional distress were more likely to misuse opioid analgesics. Neither pain severity nor...

Science Highlight

Overdose drug shows promise as stroke treatment

April 17, 2018 | Preclinical research lays the groundwork for developing the first drug to promote recovery from ischemic stroke, a leading cause of adult disability.

Science Highlight

Communities That Care program shows success in reducing substance use and behavioral issues in adolescents

April 13, 2018 | The CTC is a prevention planning and implementation system that trains community coalition is to assess their community’s needs, then select and use evidence-based programs and policies to reduce risk...

Nora's Blog

Listening to Patients’ Voices in Developing New Opioid Addiction Treatments

| En español

April 5, 2018 | One of the pillars of the current federal initiatives to end the opioid crisis is the development of new medications to treat opioid addiction. The FDA Patient-Focused Drug Development Initiative...

Science Highlight

Study highlights how opioid receptors organize to block pain

March 27, 2018 | A NIDA-funded study explored how opioids such as morphine act within pain circuits in the brain and spinal cord, while attaching to receptors on the surface of nerve cells (neurons).

Nora's Blog

What Does It Mean When We Call Addiction a Brain Disorder?

| En español

March 23, 2018 | Informed Americans no longer view addiction as a moral failing, and more and more policymakers are recognizing that punishment is an ineffective and inappropriate tool for addressing a person’s drug...

Science Highlight

Gut-brain axis offers clues to treatments for addictive disorders

March 15, 2018 | Scientists have investigated how the stomach-derived hormone ghrelin affects alcohol-seeking behaviors, discovering for the first time in humans that administration of ghrelin intravenously significantly increased alcohol intake in heavy drinking...