In the realm of opioid addiction crisis faced by many parts of the world, a significant challenge is the high relapse rates during periods of abstinence, often triggered by stress and negative emotional states. Our findings advance our understanding on opioid addiction neurobiology and treatment options by exploring the therapeutic potential of (2R,6R)-hydroxynorketamine (HNK) in opioid addiction, using mice. We first established novel mouse models for examining stress susceptibility and opioid addiction interplay, uniquely enabling us to investigate HNK’s effects across various addiction-related behaviors. Our study indicates that (2R,6R)-HNK has the potential to evolve into a next-generation pharmacotherapy for opioid use disorders, which could revolutionize treatment strategies, particularly by targeting the emotional disturbances that persist through protracted abstinence.

Read more at: https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.12.07.570550v1