Fatal opioid overdoses and people diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) are continuing to rise in the United States1. Efforts to develop new treatment strategies and to bolster avenues of existing treatments for opioid addiction require a deeper understanding of the changes that occur in the human brain with chronic opioid use. To date, few studies have investigated the molecular changes associated with OUD at the cellular level in human brain2–8. Recently, we and others have reported alterations in inflammatory signaling5,9, along with pathways involved in neurodegeneration2,6,7, oxidative stress10, and DNA damage11 in the brains of individuals with OUD. Glial cells are likely major contributors to inflammation in the brain associated with chronic opioid use5,9.
