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Addiction is a brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug use despite adverse consequences. [36] [56] [57] [58] Addiction involves the overstimulation of the brain's mesocorticolimbic reward circuit (reward system), essential for motivating behaviors linked to survival and reproductive fitness, like seeking food and sex. [59]
Opiate overdose symptoms and signs can be referred to as the "opioid toxidrome triad": decreased level of consciousness, pinpoint pupils and respiratory depression. Other symptoms include seizures and muscle spasms. Sometimes an opiate overdose can lead to such a decreased level of consciousness such that the person will not wake up.
Early studies had indicated that opiates appeared to accumulate in the brain. [5] The receptors were first identified as specific molecules through the use of binding studies, in which opiates that had been labeled with radioisotopes were found to bind to brain membrane homogenates.
Monitoring and subsequent management can be determined via the Short Opiate Withdrawal Scale or the Clinical Opioid Withdrawal Scale. [ 12 ] [ 7 ] The scores obtained from the scales vary based on the current symptoms a person with morphine withdrawal is suffering from, where different severities of withdrawal are identified based on these ...
Opiates, like heroin and morphine, decrease the inhibitory activity of such neurones. This causes increased release of dopamine in the brain which is the reason for euphoric and rewarding effects of heroin. [80] Both morphine and 6-MAM are μ-opioid agonists that bind to receptors present throughout the brain, spinal cord, and gut of all mammals.
“The brain changes, and it doesn’t recover when you just stop the drug because the brain has been actually changed,” Kreek explained. “The brain may get OK with time in some persons. But it’s hard to find a person who has completely normal brain function after a long cycle of opiate addiction, not without specific medication treatment.”
The terms 'opioid' and 'opiate' are sometimes used interchangeably, but the term 'opioid' is used to designate all substances, both natural and synthetic, that bind to opioid receptors in the brain. [4] Opiates are alkaloid compounds naturally found in the opium poppy plant Papaver somniferum. [5] [6]
Addiction is a disorder of the brain's reward system developing through transcriptional and epigenetic mechanisms as a result of chronically high levels of exposure to an addictive stimulus (e.g., eating food, the use of cocaine, engagement in sexual activity, participation in high-thrill cultural activities such as gambling, etc.) over ...