丘脑室旁核在物质成瘾中的作用机制研究进展

Research progress on the mechanisms of paraventricular nucleus of thalamus in drug addiction

物质成瘾是一种慢性复发性脑疾病,作为全球范围的一个重大公共卫生问题,目前对其缺乏科学有效的针对性干预手段,这促使研究人员对物质成瘾的神经机制进行更深入的探索。近来研究发现丘脑室旁核可调节动机、奖赏及成瘾等多种行为,急性暴露于可卡因、吗啡和酒精可激活其神经元,提示丘脑室旁核可能是成瘾相关神经通路的关键核团。本文综述了丘脑室旁核的解剖特征、参与物质成瘾的神经通路及其具体机制,以期为物质成瘾神经机制后续研究提供参考。

Drug addiction is a chronic recurrent brain disease.As a serious global public health problem,currently effective treatments available for addiction are limited,which urges researchers to have a deeper understanding of the mechanisms of drug addiction.Recent studies not only have discovered paraventricular nucleus of thalamus(PVT)is involved in the regulation of behaviours including motivation,reward and drug addiction,but also have observed an acute bolus of cocaine,morphine and alcohol can activate the PVT,implying that it could serve as a critical hub of neural circuits that control drug-related behaviours.This review mainly summarizes the anatomical features of PVT,the neural circuits involved in drug addiction as well as their effects in order to provide perspectives on future studies about neural mechanisms of drug addiction.