Neurobiological Basis of Craving and Anti-Craving Medications

Medications and alcohol craving.

The use of medications as an adjunct to alcoholism treatment is based on the premise that craving and other manifestations of alcoholism are mediated by neurobiological mechanisms. Three of the four medications approved in the United States or Europe for treating alcoholism are reported to reduce craving; these include naltrexone (ReVia), acamprosate, and tiapride. The remaining medication, dis...

Interoceptive Basis to Craving

Awareness of one's physiology is an important component of emotion. How might these processes be related to addiction? In a recent issue of Science, Naqvi et al. demonstrated that smoking addiction is disrupted by damage to the insula cortex. This suggests that brain circuits mediating interoception also contribute to craving states.

Neurophysiological Basis of Food Craving

Anti-craving effects of environmental enrichment.

We hypothesized that environmental enrichment in rats may reduce cocaine-seeking behaviour elicited by cocaine-priming injections and by cocaine-associated cues. Rats trained to self-administer cocaine while housed in isolated conditions were then assigned to live in isolation or an enriched environment for 21 d of forced abstinence. Subsequently, extinction and reinstatement of cocaine-seeking...

Chocolate craving and liking.

Liking and craving for chocolate and related substances were surveyed in a sample of University of Pennsylvania undergraduates (n = 249) and their parents (n = 319). Chocolate was highly liked in all groups, with a stronger liking by females. Chocolate is the most craved food among females, and is craved by almost half of the female sample (in both age groups). Although this craving is related ...