National Chengdu Center for Safety Evaluation of Drugs, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy and Cancer Center, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, and Collaborative Innovation Center for Biotherapy, Chengdu 610041, China.
Ministry of Education, Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Drug Delivery System and Biotech Drugs in Universities of Shandong, Yantai University, Yantai 264005, China.
Pharmacol Ther. 2022 Aug;236:108215. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2022.108215. Epub 2022 May 21.
Drug addiction is a chronic and relapsing brain disorder characterized by compulsive drug seeking and continued drug use despite adverse consequences. The high prevalence and social burden of addiction is indisputable; however, the available intervention is insufficient. Abnormal gene expression is observed in reward-related brain regions in animal models of addiction. The modulation of gene expression and aberrant adaptation of neural networks attribute to the changes in brain function under repeated exposure to addictive drugs. The emerging recognition of the role of microRNA (miRNA) provides new insights into many biological and pathological processes in the central nervous system. Considerable studies have demonstrated that miRNAs are strong modulators of posttranscriptional gene expression in drug addiction. Here, we provide an overview of miRNAs, followed by evidence for aberrant miRNA expression and regulatory roles of miRNAs in drug addiction as well as neuroadaptation. We concluded by providing our perspectives that miRNAs have the potential as novel therapeutic targets for drug addiction.
药物成瘾是一种慢性和复发性的大脑疾病，其特征是强迫性觅药和持续用药，尽管会产生不良后果。成瘾的高患病率和社会负担是不可否认的；然而，现有的干预措施还远远不够。在成瘾动物模型中，观察到与奖励相关的大脑区域存在异常基因表达。基因表达的调节和神经网络的异常适应导致了在反复接触成瘾药物时大脑功能的变化。miRNA（微小 RNA）作用的新认识为中枢神经系统中的许多生物学和病理学过程提供了新的见解。大量研究表明，miRNA 是药物成瘾中转录后基因表达的强有力调节剂。在这里，我们概述了 miRNA，然后提供了异常 miRNA 表达的证据以及 miRNA 在药物成瘾和神经适应中的调节作用。最后，我们提出了 miRNA 作为药物成瘾治疗新靶点的潜力。
