Cumulating evidence highlights the existence of substantial Central Nervous System (CNS)-mechanism overlaps between stress, pain, and addiction. Stress and pain are interacting and influence each other at multiple levels, including genetic, biological, cognitive, behavioral, and social factors. Addiction is a progressive disease that affects the brain's neurology and negatively impacts health, social, and economic welfare.
Research studies show interactions between stress, pain, and addiction. Administration of abused drugs or treatments for pain induce various neurochemical changes in the brain that produce alterations in the stress response and pain sensitivity.
While acute administration of these drugs alleviates pain or stress, repetitive or chronic intake leads to developing tolerance to the drug that could influence drug-related analgesia and drug relapse.
There is cumulative evidence suggesting that early and adult stressful life events are involved in the modulation of pain perception, as reported in both animal model and human studies, thus acting as predisposing factors to pain perception. These may also represent risk factors for the development of addiction and serve as cues that trigger drug relapses. Interestingly, not all individuals exposed to traumatic experiences develop an addiction to these drugs, suggesting the existence of individual resilient factors acting as protective factors in mentally healthy individuals.
Recent studies have shown alterations in epigenetic markers in resilience models of drug addiction or pain and suggested the existence of an epigenetic basis for responses to stressful events, as well as the presence of epigenetic changes associated with pain or addiction. Stress, addiction, and pain are interacting and influence each other and may have common pathophysiological mechanisms at the neural circuits, molecular targets, and epigenetic levels.
Investigating the distinct and shared mechanisms will contribute to our understanding of stress, pain, and addiction. This might help elucidate the shared underlying mechanisms and discover new therapeutics against stress, pain, and addiction.
This Research Topic’s aim is to collect current knowledge and research advances in the field of stress, pain, and addiction, including epigenetic approaches, resilient factors, animal models, behaviors, and therapeutics. We would like authors to provide the latest advances and research output results derived from studies aiming to treat stress, pain, and addiction, both in human and animal models.
Specifically, our aim is to cover the following, but not limited to, subtopics:
• Neural mechanisms underlying stress, pain, or drug addiction
• Current and future therapeutic approaches to treat stress, pain, or drug addiction
• Epigenetics underlying susceptibility and resilience
• Regulation of genomic DNA methylation influencing psychological susceptibility or resilience to stressors
• Neuroepigenetics and neuroplasticity: epigenetics and resilience in pain or drug abuse
• Epigenetic influence and diseases: immunity and resilience
• Molecular and structural changes underlying resilience or vulnerability
• Resilient adaptation to environmental stressors, pain, or drug addiction
• Resilience animal model of stress, pain, or drug addiction
Cumulating evidence highlights the existence of substantial Central Nervous System (CNS)-mechanism overlaps between stress, pain, and addiction. Stress and pain are interacting and influence each other at multiple levels, including genetic, biological, cognitive, behavioral, and social factors. Addiction is a progressive disease that affects the brain's neurology and negatively impacts health, social, and economic welfare.
Research studies show interactions between stress, pain, and addiction. Administration of abused drugs or treatments for pain induce various neurochemical changes in the brain that produce alterations in the stress response and pain sensitivity.
While acute administration of these drugs alleviates pain or stress, repetitive or chronic intake leads to developing tolerance to the drug that could influence drug-related analgesia and drug relapse.
There is cumulative evidence suggesting that early and adult stressful life events are involved in the modulation of pain perception, as reported in both animal model and human studies, thus acting as predisposing factors to pain perception. These may also represent risk factors for the development of addiction and serve as cues that trigger drug relapses. Interestingly, not all individuals exposed to traumatic experiences develop an addiction to these drugs, suggesting the existence of individual resilient factors acting as protective factors in mentally healthy individuals.
Recent studies have shown alterations in epigenetic markers in resilience models of drug addiction or pain and suggested the existence of an epigenetic basis for responses to stressful events, as well as the presence of epigenetic changes associated with pain or addiction. Stress, addiction, and pain are interacting and influence each other and may have common pathophysiological mechanisms at the neural circuits, molecular targets, and epigenetic levels.
Investigating the distinct and shared mechanisms will contribute to our understanding of stress, pain, and addiction. This might help elucidate the shared underlying mechanisms and discover new therapeutics against stress, pain, and addiction.
This Research Topic’s aim is to collect current knowledge and research advances in the field of stress, pain, and addiction, including epigenetic approaches, resilient factors, animal models, behaviors, and therapeutics. We would like authors to provide the latest advances and research output results derived from studies aiming to treat stress, pain, and addiction, both in human and animal models.
Specifically, our aim is to cover the following, but not limited to, subtopics:
• Neural mechanisms underlying stress, pain, or drug addiction
• Current and future therapeutic approaches to treat stress, pain, or drug addiction
• Epigenetics underlying susceptibility and resilience
• Regulation of genomic DNA methylation influencing psychological susceptibility or resilience to stressors
• Neuroepigenetics and neuroplasticity: epigenetics and resilience in pain or drug abuse
• Epigenetic influence and diseases: immunity and resilience
• Molecular and structural changes underlying resilience or vulnerability
• Resilient adaptation to environmental stressors, pain, or drug addiction
• Resilience animal model of stress, pain, or drug addiction