What topics does this cannabis study cover?

This study covers research on: Addiction.

Where was this research published?

Published in Biological psychiatry on September 22, 2025.

CBD reduces relapse-like heroin seeking in a rat study

Q: What did this research study find?

*CBD* **attenuated cue-induced heroin-seeking behavior** in male rats, suggesting a possible antirelapse effect in this animal model.

Cannabidiol Attenuates Heroin Seeking in Male Rats Associated With Normalization of Discrete Neurobiological Signatures Within the Nucleus Accumbens With Subregional Specificity.

Biological psychiatry • September 22, 2025 • Highly Relevant

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AI Summary

This preclinical study examined whether cannabidiol (CBD) could reduce relapse-like behavior after heroin exposure in male rats. The animals were trained to associate environmental cues with heroin, and those cues later triggered heroin-seeking behavior. CBD attenuated this cue-induced heroin seeking, supporting further investigation of CBD as a potential antirelapse treatment—but the findings do not establish that CBD prevents relapse in people.

The researchers also analyzed gene activity in two subregions of the nucleus accumbens, a brain area involved in reward and addiction. Heroin altered gene-expression patterns in both regions, with stronger effects in the shell. CBD normalized some of these changes, particularly in the shell, where affected genes were linked to the extracellular matrix, astrocyte function, and immune-related regulation. The abstract does not provide quantitative effect sizes or sample sizes, so the strength of these effects cannot be assessed from the abstract alone.

💡 Key Findings

CBD attenuated cue-induced heroin-seeking behavior in male rats, suggesting a possible antirelapse effect in this animal model.

Moderate

50%

Heroin produced shared gene-expression changes in the nucleus accumbens core and shell, with more pronounced alterations in the shell.

Moderate

50%

CBD normalized some heroin-related transcriptomic changes in both nucleus accumbens subregions, including changes associated with heroin-seeking behavior.

Moderate

50%

In the nucleus accumbens shell, CBD-responsive genes were linked to the extracellular matrix and astrocyte function, with upstream regulators related to immune function.

Moderate

40%

Because this was a rat study, the findings are promising but preliminary and do not show that CBD is an established treatment for opioid relapse in humans.

Good

70%

📄 Original Abstract

Opioid use disorder is a chronic relapsing condition characterized by cycles of compulsive drug use, abstinence, and relapse. Cannabidiol (CBD), a nonintoxicating cannabinoid, is under investigation as an antirelapse treatment. CBD attenuates cue-induced heroin seeking in a rodent model of relapse and reduces craving and anxiety induced by drug-associated cues in abstinent individuals with heroin use disorder. The neurobiological mechanisms by which CBD may exert its antirelapse effects are unknown. The objective of the current study was to evaluate the effects of CBD administration on heroin-seeking behavior in conjunction with transcriptomic profiling in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcC) and NAc shell (NAcS). Heroin-trained animals exhibited high levels of cue-induced heroin-seeking behavior. Importantly, CBD attenuated cue-induced heroin-seeking behaviors. Postmortem RNA sequencing of the NAcC and NAcS revealed shared transcriptomic alterations in the NAc subregions in response to heroin, with a more robust impact of heroin in the NAcS. Although CBD had minimal impact on heroin-induced perturbations in the NAcC, it normalized components of the transcriptomic signature altered by heroin in both NAc subregions including transcripts that correlated with heroin-seeking behavior. In contrast, CBD normalized a particular subset of NAcS genes that correlated with heroin-seeking behavior. Those genes were specifically linked to the extracellular matrix and astrocyte function, and their upstream regulators were related to immune function. These findings underscore the NAc subregional signatures of heroin-induced neurobiological perturbations and provide novel biological targets relevant for CBD's apparent antirelapse effects.

Paper Type

📄 Research

Publication

Journal: Biological psychiatry
Published: September 22, 2025
PMID: 40992584
DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.08.023

Authors (4)

Alexandra Chisholm Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Jacqueline-Marie N Ferland Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Randall J Ellis Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York.
Yasmin L Hurd Addiction Institute of Mount Sinai, Departments of Neuroscience and Psychiatry, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, New York. Electronic address: Yasmin.hurd@mssm.edu.