Mirtazapine, and Mirtazapine-Like Compounds as Possible Pharmacotherapy for Substance Abuse Disorders: Evidence From the Bench and the Bedside.
Mirtazapine, and mirtazapine-like compounds as possible pharmacotherapy for substance abuse disorders: Evidence from the bench and the bedside.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Pharmacol Ther. 2012 Aug 29;
Graves SM, Rafeyan R, Watts J, Napier TC
Understanding substance use disorders (SUDs) and the problems associated with abstinence has grown in recent years. Nonetheless, highly efficacious treatment targeting relapse prevention has remained elusive, and there remains no FDA-approved pharmacotherapy for psychostimulant dependence. Preclinical and clinical investigations assessing the utility of classical antidepressants, which block monoamine reuptake, show mixed and often contradictory results. Mirtazapine (Remeron®) is a unique FDA-approved antidepressant, with negligible affinity for reuptake proteins, indirectly augments monoamine transmission presumably through antagonist activity at multiple receptors including the norepinephrine (NE)(?2), and serotonin (5-HT)(2A/C) receptors. Historically, mirtazapine was also considered to be a 5-HT(2C) antagonist, but recent evidence indicates that mirtazapine is an inverse agonist at this receptor subtype. Suggesting a promising role for mixed-action serotonergic drugs for addiction pharmacotherapy, mirtazapine attenuates psychostimulant-induced behaviors in several rodent models of substance abuse, and antagonizes methamphetamine-induced biochemical and electrophysiological alterations in rats. Preclinical findings are confirmed through published case studies documenting successful outcomes with mirtazapine therapy across a number of SUDs. To date, a large scale clinical trial assessing the utility of mirtazapine in substance abuse pharmacotherapy has yet to be conducted. However, as reviewed here, accumulating preclinical and clinical evidence argues that mirtazapine, or compounds that emulate aspects of its pharmacological profile, may prove useful in helping treat addictions.
HubMed – addiction
Reward circuit function in high BMI individuals with compulsive overeating: Similarities with addiction.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Neuroimage. 2012 Aug 31;
Filbey FM, Myers US, Dewitt S
CONTEXT: The rising rate of overweight and obese individuals among developing countries despite focused efforts on prevention and treatment underscores not only the need to better define the physiological factors that contribute to weight problems, but also the need to elucidate the neurobiological mechanisms of the self-regulatory failure over eating that leads to weight problems. Emergent findings suggest an overlapping model of addiction and compulsive overeating. OBJECTIVE: Our goal was to examine whether neural hyper-responsivity to reward typically associated with substance abuse could also be seen in individuals exhibiting binge-eating behavior. DESIGN: Participants completed self-assessments of demographic information and eating behavior. Neurofunctional data were collected via functional MRI (fMRI) scans while participants were exposed to personally relevant high-calorie cues. SETTING: The participants were recruited from the general community. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-six individuals with high body mass index (BMI)>25 and moderate binge-eating behavior as assessed by the Binge Eating Scale (BES) were recruited for this study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: fMRI BOLD response during exposure to high-calorie taste cues. RESULTS: The results showed that exposure to high-calorie taste cues elicited fMRI BOLD response in the reward system of individuals with high BMI, and, more importantly, that this hyper-responsivity increases with greater number of binge-eating symptoms (cluster-corrected p<.05, z=1.9). CONCLUSIONS: These findings support an overlapping neural model of addiction and self-regulatory failure over eating that may lead to problems with weight in humans. These findings offer insight into the prevention and treatment of disordered eating. HubMed – addiction
Going tobacco-free: Predictors of clinician reactions and outcomes of the NY State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services tobacco-free regulation.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
J Subst Abuse Treat. 2012 Sep 6;
Eby L, George K, Brown BL
In an effort to reduce patient tobacco dependence and create healthier work environments, New York State (NYS) mandated 100% tobacco-free addiction treatment programs for state funded or certified facilities in 2008. We present the results of a longitudinal study examining how local implementation features shape clinician reactions to the regulation and influence post-regulation clinician behavior and strain. A cohort of 147 clinicians associated with 13 treatment organizations throughout NYS completed a survey prior to the passage of the regulation and again approximately 1year post-regulation. Findings reveal that local implementation features of clinician participation in the planning for change, the provision of change-related information, and perceived organizational support predicted perceptions of change management fairness, which in turn predicted clinical practice behaviors to support smoking cessation, as well as psychological and behavioral strain. In contrast, self-efficacy for change was neither related to local implementation nor clinician outcomes. Practical implications are discussed.
HubMed – addiction
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