Nociceptin attenuates the escalation of oxycodone self-administration by normalizing CeA–GABA transmission in highly addicted rats
More than 2 million individuals in the United States currently have a substance use disorder that is related to prescription opioid pain relievers. We identified individual differences in oxycodone addiction-like behaviors in outbred heterogenous stock rats with high and low addiction-like behaviors. We found that the downregulation of nociceptin levels in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA) may be responsible for hyper–γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic tone in the CeA that is observed in individuals who develop addiction-like behaviors. The development of small molecules that target the nociceptin system may have therapeutic efficacy for the treatment of opioid use disorder.
