Current and Emerging Neuromodulation Therapies for Addiction: Insight from Pre-Clinical Studies. [Review]

TITLE
Current and Emerging Neuromodulation Therapies for Addiction: Insight from Pre-Clinical Studies. [Review]

SOURCE
Current Opinion in Neurobiology. 49:168-174, 2018 04.

AUTHORS
Creed M.

ELECTRONIC ADDRESS
mcreed@som.umaryland.edu

ABSTRACT
Neuromodulation therapies such as deep brain stimulation or transcranial magnetic stimulation have shown promise in reducing symptoms of addiction when applied to the prefontal cortex, nucleus accumbens or subthalamic nucleus. Pre-clinical investigations implicate modulation of the cortico-basal ganglia network in these therapeutic effects, and this mechanistic understanding is necessary to optimize stimulation paradigms. Recently, the principle that neuromodulation can reverse drug-evoked synaptic plasticity and reduce behavioral symptoms of addiction has inspired novel stimulation paradigms that have long-term effects in animal models. Pre-clinical studies have also raised the possibility that tailoring neuromodulation protocols can modulate distinct symptoms of addiction. Combining mechanistic knowledge of circuit dysfunction with emerging technologies for non-invasive neuromodulation holds promise for developing therapies for addiction and related disorders.