Neurobiology of substance use disorder, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity

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Background

Substance use disorder and stress-related disorders, such as anxiety and depression, are major brain disorders that have caused heavy health problems and economic burdens worldwide. Epidemic evidence revealed particularly high comorbidity of substance use disorder with stress-related disorders. Many studies have revealed that stress is a major risk factor influencing addiction initiation, maintenance, and relapse. Likewise, substances such as tobacco/nicotine and alcohol have been commonly used by people to cope with daily stressful events and disasters.

Neurobiological studies on substance use disorder and stress-related disorders have revealed many common underlying neural mechanisms. For example, dysfunction of the brain stress system and monoamine systems, such as the norepinephrine system, have been reported to play a crucial role in the development of substance use disorder. Various brain regions, such as the amygdala, prefrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens, have been implicated in the development of both substance use disorders and stress-related disorders. Despite the fact that many years of effort have been made in the research to uncover the neural mechanisms of substance use disorder and stress-related disorders, the precise neurobiology of these disorders remains unclear. In particular, less is known about the neurobiology of the comorbidity of substance use disorder and stress-related disorders.

Neurobiological studies on pathological memory have demonstrated that emotional stimulation could be associated with the experiences of drug use and stressful events to form pathologically emotional memories and persistently stored in the brain. Long-term stored emotional memory thus facilitates, if not causes, the development of substance use disorder and stress-related disorders. Recent mechanistic studies on emotional memories, especially those focusing on neural circuits using state-of-art technologies such as optogenetics and calcium images, have generated many breakthroughs in the field. Emotional memories have similar processes as other memories, such as learning/formation, consolidation, retrieval, reconsolidation, extinction, reinstatement, et al. How these memory stages would affect the development of substance use disorder and stress-related disorders and their interaction remains unclear. Uncovering the neural circuits that mediate emotional memories would help us understand the etiology of these disorders.

The goal of this Research Topic is to discuss the advances in substance use disorders, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity, emphasizing the underlying neural mechanisms. We aimed to generate a Research Topic that includes research and review articles from both animal and human studies.

We would like to discuss the latest advances in novel mechanisms and risk factors of substance use disorders and stress-related disorders, and biomarkers that would predict the development of these disorders and relapse. We also would like to collect advances in treatment strategies, including both pharmacological and non-pharmacological treatments, to prevent and treat these disorders. Additionally, we would like to discuss recent advances in the anatomy and function of critical brain circuits underlying these disorders and the related modulation strategies, such as closed-loop stimulation, that could be utilized as novel treatment methods to benefit patients with these brain disorders.

The contributions should focus on the neurobiology and treatment strategies of substance use disorder, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity, and cover the subtopics listed below:

1) Molecular mechanisms and neural circuits of substance use disorders, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity;
2) Neurobiology of emotional memories and their contributions to the development of substance use disorders, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity;
3) Pharmacological and non-pharmacological interventions of substance use disorders, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity;
4) Risk factors and biomarkers of the development of substance use disorders, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity;
5) Perspectives on substance use disorders, stress-related disorders, and their comorbidity.

Keywords: substance use disorder, stress-related disorders, comorbidity, neurobiology, emotional memory

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