Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Jan 28;374(4):363-71.
doi: 10.1056/NEJMra1511480.

Neurobiologic Advances from the Brain Disease Model of Addiction

Nora D Volkow, George F Koob, A Thomas McLellan
Review

Neurobiologic Advances from the Brain Disease Model of Addiction

Nora D Volkow et al. N Engl J Med. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Dr. McLellan reports receiving fees for serving on the board of directors of Indivior Pharmaceuticals. No other potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Stages of the Addiction Cycle.
During intoxication, drug-induced activation of the brain’s reward regions (in blue) is enhanced by conditioned cues in areas of increased sensitization (in green). During withdrawal, the activation of brain regions involved in emotions (in pink) results in negative mood and enhanced sensitivity to stress. During preoccupation, the decreased function of the prefrontal cortex leads to an inability to balance the strong desire for the drug with the will to abstain, which triggers relapse and reinitiates the cycle of addiction. The compromised neuro-circuitry reflects the disruption of the dopamine and glutamate systems and the stress-control systems of the brain, which are affected by corticotropin-releasing factor and dynorphin. The behaviors during the three stages of addiction change as a person transitions from drug experimentation to addiction as a function of the progressive neuroadaptations that occur in the brain.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Results from the 2013 National Sur-vey on Drug Use and Health: summary of national findings. Rockville, MD: Sub-stance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality, 2013.
    1. The health consequences of smoking — 50 years of progress. Rockville, MD: Department of Health and Human Services, 2014.
    1. Excessive drinking costs U.S. $223.5 billion. April 17, 2014 (http://www.cdc.gov/features/alcoholconsumption).
    1. National drug threat assessment, 2011. Washington, DC: Department of Justice, National Drug Intelligence Center, 2011.
    1. Busch SH, Epstein AJ, Harhay MO et al. The effects of federal parity on substance use disorder treatment. Am J Manag Care 2014;20:76–82. - PMC - PubMed

MeSH terms