Addictions and Comorbidity |

Description

At present, the Research Group in Addictions and Comorbidity is clearly comprised by clinical and basic researchers that mostly belong to the Network of Addictive Disorders of Healthcare Institute Carlos III (ISCIII, Instituto de Salud Carlos III). We have ongoing projects integrating basic and clinical researchers that have led to the confluence of a series of research lines with potential significance for clinicians, and which have provided a series of insights that have allowed us to further study future markers of neurobiological and cognitive factors involved in alcohol dependency.

Scientific objectives and lines of work

To demonstrate the presence of psychophysiological phenotypic markers of vulnerability for the development of alcohol dependency – relevance of response to stress and impulsivity. To study the use of physical exercise to decrease the risk of dependency to harmful substances in the children of alcoholics (Hermes-Sport Project).
To calculate the weight of specific psychophysiological processes in the relapses of alcoholic patients – relevance of inhibitory processes, alcohol seeking mechanisms and response to stress.
To demonstrate the relevance of treatment techniques based on the updating-reconsolidation-extinction processes of associative memories.
To study the generation of peripheral and neurobiological changes involved in the development of the dependency, its subsequent relapse and the cognitive changes resulting from the consumption of the harmful substance in animal models receiving ethanol.
To identify targets for the development of treatments aimed at reducing the consumption of alcohol, to reduce the number of relapses and alleviate the effects of the ethanol consumption.
To seek biomarkers that may reflect neurobiological changes and serve as a tool for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of the potential consequences of the consumption of this substance in humans.