Symposium
Session Room 213
Session Room 213
Wednesday, June 18, 02:40 PM – 03:55 PM
Symposium 17: Connecting the Dots in Opioid Addiction: Brain Circuits, Stress, and Clinical Trials
Opioid medications are used to manage many pain conditions, but they are associated with significant side effects and have a potential for misuse and abuse. Globally, over 26 million people struggle with opioid use disorder, resulting in profound social and economic consequences. This symposium will highlight recent breakthroughs in understanding how opioids affect brain neural circuitry, as well as the relationship between opioid use, stress, and the endocannabinoid system. Presentations will provide exciting insights from preclinical to clinical studies, offering potential strategies to improve the safety of opioid medications and advance new treatments for opioid use disorder.
Dr. Creed will present new findings on the functional diversity of neurons in the ventral pallidum, a key brain region involved in drug-seeking behavior and demonstrate how the transcriptomes of these neurons are conserved across mice, rats, and primates. Dr. Mayo will discuss the interaction between social stress and the endocannabinoid system following acute and chronic oxycodone use in humans, highlighting the potential for endocannabinoid-targeted therapeutics to reduce stress sensitivity after opioid exposure. Finally, Dr. Trang will present evidence of a specific brain-to-spinal circuit involved in opioid withdrawal and explore the repurposing of a medication, now in Phase 2a clinical trials, aimed at alleviating withdrawal symptoms.
Dr. Creed will present new findings on the functional diversity of neurons in the ventral pallidum, a key brain region involved in drug-seeking behavior and demonstrate how the transcriptomes of these neurons are conserved across mice, rats, and primates. Dr. Mayo will discuss the interaction between social stress and the endocannabinoid system following acute and chronic oxycodone use in humans, highlighting the potential for endocannabinoid-targeted therapeutics to reduce stress sensitivity after opioid exposure. Finally, Dr. Trang will present evidence of a specific brain-to-spinal circuit involved in opioid withdrawal and explore the repurposing of a medication, now in Phase 2a clinical trials, aimed at alleviating withdrawal symptoms.