ArticleBiological psychiatry2021
Transcriptional Alterations in Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex and Nucleus Accumbens Implicate Neuroinflammation and Synaptic Remodeling in Opioid Use Disorder.
Article in Biological psychiatry, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 100 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
100 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 148 citations in OpenAlex.
- Identifying novel gene dysregulation associated with opioid overdose death: a meta-analysis of differential gene expression in human prefrontal cortex.Translational psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- Functional genomic mechanisms of opioid action and opioid use disorder: a systematic review of animal models and human studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Neurotransmission-related gene expression in the frontal pole is altered in subjects with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.Translational psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Preliminary evidence of neuroimmune system disruption in opioid use disorder: Findings from a pilot PET TSPO imaging study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- GEM-GPT Enables Personalized Cell Type-Resolved Therapeutic Design for Systems Pharmacology.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Identification of variants from gene expression data of opioid-addicted patients.Journal of applied genetics · 2026Article
- Spatial transcriptomics reveals distinct cell type dynamics following opioid dependence in female mice with the common human μ-opioid receptor variant Oprm1 A118G.Nature communications · 2026Article
- Spatiomolecular mapping reveals anatomical organization of heterogeneous cell types in the human nucleus accumbens.Neuron · 2026Article
- Transcriptional Response to Chronic Long-Access Fentanyl Self-Administration in Rat Habenula and Amygdala.Addiction biology · 2026Article
- The role of persistent inflammation in failed recovery after perinatal brain injury: is resolution the cure?Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Review
- Heroin addiction modulates transcription factor binding in regulatory regions of the human putamen.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Morphine and methamphetamine trigger divergent post-transcriptional neuroimmune landscapes in the dorsal striatum.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Not just neurons: glial mechanisms driving sex-specific vulnerability to withdrawal and relapse in substance use disorder.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2026Review
- Age-dependent transcriptomic effects of morphine in the frontal cortex of female mice.Neuropharmacology · 2026Article
- Cell-type specific impact of opioid use disorder and HIV on the human forebrain and cerebellum.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Alpha-pinene modulates hippocampal MAPKs/c-Fos pathways during morphine dependence and withdrawal in rats.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Transcriptomic signatures in tetrapartite brain region identifies shared and unique gene signatures for substance-use.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Deciphering the impact of genetic variants on vulnerability to Opioid Use Disorder.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Animal Models of Prenatal Opioid Exposure: Insights into Impaired Neurodevelopment.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Integrative Genomics Approach Identifies Glial Transcriptomic Dysregulation and Risk in the Cortex of Individuals With Alcohol Use Disorder.Biological psychiatry · 2026Article
40 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundPrevalence rates of opioid use disorder (OUD) have increased dramatically, accompanied by a surge of overdose deaths. While opioid dependence has been extensively studied in preclinical models, an understanding of the biological alterations that occur in the brains of people who chronically use opioids and who are diagnosed with OUD remains limited. To address this limitation, RNA sequencing was conducted on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens, regions heavily implicated in OUD, from postmortem brains in subjects with OUD.
methodsWe performed RNA sequencing on the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens from unaffected comparison subjects (n = 20) and subjects diagnosed with OUD (n = 20). Our transcriptomic analyses identified differentially expressed transcripts and investigated the transcriptional coherence between brain regions using rank-rank hypergeometric orderlap. Weighted gene coexpression analyses identified OUD-specific modules and gene networks. Integrative analyses between differentially expressed transcripts and genome-wide association study datasets using linkage disequilibrium scores assessed the genetic liability of psychiatric-related phenotypes in OUD.
resultsRank-rank hypergeometric overlap analyses revealed extensive overlap in transcripts between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and nucleus accumbens in OUD, related to synaptic remodeling and neuroinflammation. Identified transcripts were enriched for factors that control proinflammatory cytokine, chondroitin sulfate, and extracellular matrix signaling. Cell-type deconvolution implicated a role for microglia as a potential driver for opioid-induced neuroplasticity. Linkage disequilibrium score analysis suggested genetic liabilities for risky behavior, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and depression in subjects with OUD.
conclusionsOverall, our findings suggest connections between the brain's immune system and opioid dependence in the human brain.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.