Research at Rutgers has found that low doses of one of these medications can reduce drug-seeking behavior in rats without sedating them or impairing cognitive function. As orexin’s role in addiction has emerged, researchers have tested these medications as addiction treatments, mostly in animals. Food and Drug Administration (Belsomra, Quviviq and Davigo). Once triggered, this overactivity may last forever – indeed, the research team observed increased orexin levels in cocaine-addicted rats that stayed sober for more than a quarter of their natural lifespan.Įarlier research into orexin’s sleep-blocking effects spurred the creation of anti-orexin insomnia medications, three of which have been approved by the U.S. Postmortem analysis of brain tissue from people who used heroin shows the same increase in the human orexin system that researchers have observed in addicted animals.
They stay on constantly, producing high levels of orexin that motivates one behavior: getting another hit.Ĭontrolled studies of mice, rats, zebrafish and other animals have allowed researchers to systematically examine each step in the process. However, when people become addicted to opioids, cocaine, alcohol and other substances, these cells increase orexin production but no longer turn it off. These cells turn on when, for example, people face a tight deadline and need to get work done, and turn off at night to enable sleep. Under normal circumstances, many orexin-producing cells in the brain turn orexin production on and off in ways that raise and lower motivation. The review, which draws on more than a decade of publications from researchers at Rutgers and peer institutions, suggests that orexin spurs drug craving and, thus, motivation to procure a drug.
Insomnia medications trial#
“We’re applying for funding from the National Institutes of Health and looking to hire a physician-scientist with clinical trial experience to lead these efforts.” “There’s still much to discover about how orexin drives drug craving, but we know more than enough to justify testing orexin antagonists in clinical trials as addiction treatments,” said Gary Aston-Jones, coauthor of the review and director of the Brain Health Institute.
Another study has even demonstrated that one of the three orexin-blocking sleep aids approved for insomnia treatment reduces opioid cravings in human subjects. They report that many drugs of abuse increase orexin production in both animal and human brains and that blocking this system reverses addiction in animals. Rutgers researchers think they have identified a biological process for drug and alcohol addiction and believe existing insomnia treatments could be used to reduce or eliminate cravings.Ī review in the December 2022 issue of Biological Psychiatry and previously published online explains how ongoing work at the Rutgers Brain Health Institute and elsewhere demonstrates that the brain’s orexin system – which regulates sleep/wake states, reward systems and mood – motivates drug-seeking behavior. Rutgers research shows how changes in the brain promote drug-seeking behavior and why some insomnia medications may block it
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