Awgichew Shewasinad Yehualashet*, Berhan Begashaw Yikena, Abera Hadgu Berhe and Birhanetensay Masresha Altaye
Addiction is a disorder of brain reward system, motivation and memory manifested by certain biological, psychological, and social problems. The Lack of most effective and long-term pharmacotherapies that can improve quality of life, necessitate the need to understand the biology of addiction for possible identification of drug targets in the brain circuit and conduct large-scale clinical studies with the hope of finding efficacious and safe medicines. Because of the wide projections of orexinergic neurons and their complicated linkage with other neurons along with the diffused distribution of orexin receptors, the orexin system is involved in the regulation of multiple central nervous system functions including addiction. Rigorous studies on the molecular and cellular bases are highly important emphasizing on how the orexinergic system is interacting with addictive substances and can modify the brain reward circuit. Therefore, the aim of this review is to discuss the existing knowledge and evidence on orexin’s cellular connectivity with addiction-related brain structure and the emerging role of orexinergic system in the treatment of addiction.
