Background Experiencing traumatic childhood is a risk factor for developing substance use
disorder, but the mechanisms that underlie this relationship have not been determined …

Behavioral manifestations of drug-seeking behavior are causally linked to alterations of
synaptic strength onto nucleus accumbens (NAc) medium spiny neurons (MSN). Although …

Opioid drugs are widely used to treat chronic pain, but their misuse can lead to tolerance,
dependence, and addiction and have created a significant public health problem. In …

The innate immune system modulates opioid-induced effects within the central nervous
system and one target that has received considerable attention is the toll-like receptor 4 …

OBJECTIVES: The paradoxical development of chronic abdominal pain is an
underrecognized side effect of opioid use. Narcotic bowel syndrome (NBS), occurring in only …

There is growing interest in drug repositioning to find new therapeutic indications for drugs
already approved for use in people. Lovastatin is an FDA approved drug that has been used …

HIV associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) are a group of neurological deficits that
affect approximately half of people living with HIV (PLWH) despite effective antiretroviral …

Microglia are involved in many dynamic processes in the central nervous system (CNS)
including the development of inflammatory processes and neuromodulation. Several …

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is a pattern-recognition receptor (PRR) that regulates the
activation of immune cells, which is a target for treating inflammation. In this study …

Abstract Elevated serum concentrations (> 3 mg/L) of the acute-phase protein, C-reactive
protein (CRP), is used as a clinical marker of inflammation and is reported to be a strong risk …