Insights into the role of the habenular circadian clock in addiction

Abstract

Drug addiction is a brain disease involving alterations in anatomy and functional neural communication. Drug intake and toxicity show daily rhythms in both humans and rodents. Evidence concerning the role of clock genes in drug intake has been previously reported. However, the implication of a timekeeping brain locus is much less known. The epithalamic lateral habenula (LHb) is now emerging as a key nucleus in drug intake and addiction. This brain structure modulates the activity of dopaminergic neurons from the ventral tegmental area, a central part of the reward system. Moreover, the LHb has circadian properties: LHb cellular activity (i.e., firing rate and clock genes expression) oscillates in a 24-h range, and the nucleus is affected by photic stimulation and has anatomical connections with the main circadian pacemaker, the suprachiasmatic nucleus. Here, we describe the current insights on the role of the LHb as a circadian oscillator and its possible implications on the rhythmic regulation of the dopaminergic activity and drug intake. These data could inspire new strategies to treat drug addiction, considering circadian timing as a principal factor.