Research Highlights | National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

Brain ensembles that tune on or off to social exploration

October 9, 2018 | An international team of scientists led by NIDA utilized miniature fluorescence microscopes to record calcium activities from hundreds of excitatory neurons in the mPFC in the brains of mice, while...

Nora's Blog

Recent Research Sheds New Light on Why Nicotine is So Addictive

September 28, 2018 | Nicotine does not produce the kind of euphoria or impairment that many other drugs like opioids and marijuana do. People do not get high from smoking cigarettes or vaping. Yet...

Nora's Blog

The HEALing Communities Study: Using Science to Address the Opioid Crisis

September 19, 2018 | The public health emergency of opioid misuse and addiction affects millions of Americans and requires innovative scientific solutions. Today, during “National Prescription Opioid and Heroin Awareness Week,” we are sharing...

NIDA Notes

How Cocaine Cues Get Planted in the Brain

September 6, 2018 | This research found that: An epigenetic mechanism underlies the powerful cocaine–environment associations that promote relapse. The mechanism may be instrumental in all drug reward–based learning. A NIDA-sponsored study sheds light...

Science Highlight

Immediate switch to low levels of nicotine in cigarettes more effective than a gradual reduction

September 4, 2018 | The FDA is considering a regulatory policy to reduce the levels of nicotine in combustible cigarettes to minimally addictive levels.

Science Highlight

Intervention increases use of Medication for both HIV/AIDS and Substance Use Disorders

September 1, 2018 | A vanguard study with people who inject drugs provides evidence that a specific flexible, scalable intervention increases reported use of both antiretroviral therapy for HIV/AIDS (ART) and medication therapy for...

Nora's Blog

How Can We Better Support Physicians in Addressing the Opioid Crisis?

August 31, 2018 | Ample evidence shows methadone and buprenorphine reduce overdose deaths, prevent the spread of diseases like HIV, and enable people to take back their lives, but there are restrictions on who...

Science Highlight

A look at drug craving

August 28, 2018 | Studies using animal models of addiction have shown that drug seeking progressively increases after drug self-administration stops, which is a phenomenon called incubation of drug craving.

NIDA Notes

Proven Prevention Program Aims To Adapt for Native Americans

August 27, 2018 | This research showed: A survey that is a key tool in the Communities That Care prevention system is largely valid in Native American communities. Adjusting the survey to incorporate culturally...

Science Highlight

E-Cigs linked to heart attacks

August 27, 2018 | An analysis of health data concludes that e-cigarette use, adjusted for smoking conventional cigarettes and other risk factors, is associated with increased risk of myocardial infarction, which is commonly known...

Science Highlight

Mindfulness training and substance use treatment

August 9, 2018 | A NIDA-funded study showed that a mindful awareness training program is associated with improved outcomes for women seeking treatment for substance use disorders.

Science Highlight

How cannabis use disorder affects working memory

August 7, 2018 | Using imaging technologies, NIDA-funded scientists peered into the brains of people with cannabis use disorder to test their working memory, compared to a control group.

NIDA Notes

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.

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...

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.

Nora's Blog

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

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.

Nora's Blog

FDA Approves First Drug Derived from Marijuana

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.

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...

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

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.