• Molecules and Cells
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• 제40권6호
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• pp.379-385
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• 2017

Drug addiction is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by the compulsive pursuit of drugs of abuse despite potential adverse consequences. Although several decades of studies have revealed that psychostimulant use can result in extensive alterations of neural circuits and physiology, no effective therapeutic strategies or medicines for drug addiction currently exist. Changes in neuronal connectivity and regulation occurring after repeated drug exposure contribute to addiction-like behaviors in animal models. Among the involved brain areas, including those of the reward system, the striatum is the major area of convergence for glutamate, GABA, and dopamine transmission, and this brain region potentially determines stereotyped behaviors. Although the physiological consequences of striatal neurons after drug exposure have been relatively well documented, it remains to be clarified how changes in striatal connectivity underlie and modulate the expression of addiction-like behaviors. Understanding how striatal circuits contribute to addiction-like behaviors may lead to the development of strategies that successfully attenuate drug-induced behavioral changes. In this review, we summarize the results of recent studies that have examined striatal circuitry and pathway-specific alterations leading to addiction-like behaviors to provide an updated framework for future investigations.

• 한국인터넷방송통신학회논문지
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• 제10권1호
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• pp.129-135
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• 2010

본 연구는 가족의 형태에 따른 인터넷 중독, 자아존중감, 대인관계 그리고 부적응 행동 간의 관계를 실증적으로 분석하였으며, 특히 가족의 형태와 인터넷 중독간의 관계에서 자아존중감, 대인관계와 부적응 행동이 매개효과를 가지는지에 대하여도 실증적 분석을 하였다. 회귀분석 결과 가족의 형태에 따른 인터넷 중독은 부(-)의 관계로 유의한 것으로 검증되었다. 자아존중감은 가족의 형태에 따라 정(+)의 관계로 유의한 것으로 나타났다. 대인관계에서는 가족의 형태가 정(+)의 관계로 유의한 것으로 검증되었다. 반면에 부적응 행동은 인터넷 중독과 같이 가족의 형태와 부(-)의 관계가 있음이 나타났다. 또한, 자아존중감, 대인관계와 부적응행동을 통해서 인터넷 중독에 영향을 미치는 매개효과에 대해서도 검증되었다. 그 결과 자아존중감, 대인관계와 부적응 행동요인이 가족형태와 인터넷 중독 사이의 매개변수의 역할을 수행한다는 결론을 얻었다.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• 제7권7호
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• pp.509-517
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• 2020

The study seeks to understand the effects of boredom proneness on impulse purchasing and smartphone addiction of young consumers. Moreover, the possible mediating role of smartphone addiction is tested for the effect of boredom proneness on impulse purchasing. Nowadays, the effect of emotions on human behavior is generally accepted, and boredom is one of the important and common problematic feelings or moods at various levels of life due to factors like unemployment, not being able to work in a suitable job, not getting appropriate education matching individual abilities, monotony of tasks, and feeling life is meaningless. Investigating the effect of boredom on specific consumer behavior would increase our knowledge about consumer behavior. For the research, a survey was conducted 313 students from Kirikkale University, Keskin Vocational High School; the data were collected by convenience sampling method. The data were processed through statistical tools like exploratory factor analysis, coefficient alphas, and regression analysis. The results of the study reveal that boredom proneness affects impulse purchasing and smartphone addiction. In addition, it is understood that smartphone addiction plays a mediating role in the effect of boredom proneness on impulse purchasing. These results indicate that boredom can be an important factor affecting certain negative consumer behaviors.

• 한국컴퓨터정보학회논문지
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• 제19권8호
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• pp.177-185
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• 2014

이 연구는 청소년의 은둔형 외톨이가 인터넷 중독을 매개로 집단따돌림과 대인기피와 정서불안증과의 관계에서 가족스트레스의 조절효과를 탐색하여 청소년의 지원을 위한 실증적 기초자료를 제공하기 위해 수행되었다. 이를 위해 G광역시 지역 고등학교 재학생인 청소년을 대상으로 표본을 추출하여 실증 분석하였다. 분석결과, 고등학생의 은둔형 외톨이가 인터넷게임중독 행태에 미치는 영향력의 관계에서 은둔형 외톨이는 인터넷 게임중독에 영향력이 있는 것으로 분석되었다. 또한 인터넷게임중독 행태가 집단따돌림, 대인기피증, 정서불안에 유의미한 영향을 미치며, 특히 은둔형 외톨이 성향은 대인기피증에 가장 크게 영향력이 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 조절변수로는 인터넷게임중독이 정서불안증에 영향을 미치고 있는 것으로 나타났다. 본 연구에서는 이러한 분석결과를 토대로 청소년의 인터넷 중독과 행태를 예방하기 위한 정책적 시사점을 제시하였다.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제30권3호
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• pp.238-245
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• 2022

Previous reports have demonstrated that genetic mechanisms greatly mediate responses to drugs of abuse, including methamphetamine (METH). The circadian gene Period 2 (Per2) has been previously associated with differential responses towards METH in mice. While the behavioral consequences of eliminating Per2 have been illustrated previously, Per2 overexpression has not yet been comprehensively described; although, Per2-overexpressing (Per2 OE) mice previously showed reduced sensitivity towards METH-induced addiction-like behaviors. To further elucidate this distinct behavior of Per2 OE mice to METH, we identified possible candidate biomarkers by determining striatal differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in both drug-naïve and METH-treated Per2 OE mice relative to wild-type (WT), through RNA sequencing. Of the several DEGs in drug naïve Per2 OE mice, we identified six genes that were altered after repeated METH treatment in WT mice, but not in Per2 OE mice. These results, validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction, could suggest that the identified DEGs might underlie the previously reported weaker METH-induced responses of Per2 OE mice compared to WT. Gene network analysis also revealed that Asic3, Hba-a1, and Rnf17 are possibly associated with Per2 through physical interactions and predicted correlations, and might potentially participate in addiction. Inhibiting the functional protein of Asic3 prior to METH administration resulted in the partial reduction of METH-induced conditioned place preference in WT mice, supporting a possible involvement of Asic3 in METH-induced reward. Although encouraging further investigations, our findings suggest that these DEGs, including Asic3, may play significant roles in the lower sensitivity of Per2 OE mice to METH.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• 제26권5호
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• pp.425-431
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• 2018

Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) peptide is a widely distributed neurotransmitter expressed in the central nervous systems. Previously, several reports demonstrated that nucleus accumbal-injected CART peptide positively modulated behavioral sensitization induced by psychostimulants and regulated the mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic pathway. It is confirmed that CART peptide exerted inhibitory effect on psychostimulant-enhanced dopamine receptors signaling, $Ca^{2+}$/calmodulin-dependent kinase signaling and crucial transcription factors expression. Besides modulation of dopamine receptors-related pathways, CART peptide also exhibited elaborated interactions with other neurotransmitter receptors, such as glutamate receptors and ${\gamma}$-aminobutyric acid receptors, which further account for attribution of CART peptide to inhibition of psychostimulant-potentiated locomotor activity. Recently, CART peptide has been shown to have anxiolytic functions on the aversive mood and uncontrolled drug-seeking behaviors following drug withdrawal. Moreover, microinjection of CART peptide has been shown to have an antidepressant effect, which suggests its potential utility in the mood regulation and avoidance of depression-like behaviors. In this review, we discuss CART pathways in neural circuits and their interactions with neurotransmitters associated with psychostimulant-induced depression.