Washington, Apr 4 (ANI): A new study in rats has found that stimulating a key part of the brain reduces compulsive cocaine-seeking, suggesting the possibility of changing addictive behavior generally.
"This exciting study offers a new direction of research for the treatment of cocaine and possibly other addictions," National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Director Dr. Nora D. Volkow said.
"We already knew, mainly from human brain imaging studies, that deficits in the prefrontal cortex are involved in drug addiction. Now that we have learned how fundamental these deficits are, we feel more confident than ever about the therapeutic promise of targeting that part of the brain," she said.
Compulsive drug-taking, despite negative health and social consequences, has been the most difficult challenge in human drug addiction.
NIDA researchers used an animal model of cocaine addiction, in which some rats exhibited addictive behavior by pushing levers to get cocaine even when followed by a mild electric shock to the foot. Other rats did not exhibit addictive responses.
The NIDA scientists compared nerve cell firing patterns in both groups of rats by examining cells from the prefrontal cortex.
They determined that cocaine produced greater functional brain deficits in the addicted rats.
Scientists then used optogenetic techniques on both groups of rats-essentially shining a light onto modified cells to increase or lessen activity in that part of the brain.
In the addicted rats, activating the brain cells (thereby removing the deficits) reduced cocaine-seeking.
In the non-addicted rats, deactivating the brain cells (thereby creating the deficits) increased compulsive cocaine seeking.
"This is the first study to show a cause-and-effect relationship between cocaine-induced brain deficits in the prefrontal cortex and compulsive cocaine-seeking," NIDA's Dr. Billy Chen, first author of the study, said.
"These results provide evidence for a cocaine-induced deficit within a brain region that is involved in disorders characterized by poor impulse control, including addiction," he said.
The study is published in the journal Nature. (ANI)
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