Authors
Izabella Sall, Randi Foxall, Lindsey Felth, Anirudh Gaur, Jennifer L Whistler, Cheryl A Whistler
Published in
Gut microbes. Volume 18. Issue 1. Pages 2691347. Dec 31, 2026. Epub Jul 17, 2026.
Abstract
Although opioids are effective analgesics, they can lead to problematic drug use behaviors that underlie opioid use disorder (OUD). Opioids also cause gut microbiota dysbiosis, which is linked to altered opioid responses. We used a longitudinal paradigm of voluntary oral morphine self-administration to capture multiple facets of drug seeking and preserve both individual behavioral responses and individual gut microbiota variation to investigate the role of the gut microbiota in a mouse model of OUD. Although all the mice consumed morphine, only a subset of the mice that transitioned to a state we defined statistically as compulsive. In compulsive mice, morphine constricted natural variability and fragmented the microbiota community networks, which convergently reorganized to form robust novel connections post-morphine. In contrast, the more variable communities of non-compulsive mice were highly interconnected during morphine disturbance and displayed more continuity post-morphine, suggesting greater flexibility and adaptability. Compulsive mice displayed a greater loss of functional diversity and a shift in favor of potential pathobionts, whereas non-compulsive mice better preserved genera associated with gut health and broader functional diversity. These findings highlight the potential role of persistent and stable opioid-induced microbiota dysbiosis in long-term behavioral changes underlying OUD and contributing to vulnerability to relapse.
PMID:
42470107
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 18 Jul 2026.
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