Addiction Breakthrough May Lead To New Treatments

It has often been debated whether or not changes in brain chemistry in drug addicts is caused from the actual drug addiction or if it’s these addicts are inclined to drug addiction. This question has also been associated with people who have compulsive behavior disorders. Until recently, no one was able to find the answer; they only knew that certain chemical changes in the brain have been linked with drug addiction in humans.

Dr. Jeff Dalley and colleagues at the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute used PET scans to find that rats that were “behaviorally impulsive” had a lot less brain dopamine receptors than those rats who were more restrained. These “behaviorally impulsive” rats were not exposed to drugs at this time. They were also found to be more inclined to self administer cocaine. The overall findings were that the changes in dopamine receptors came before drug use, as well as being characterized as impulsive or “behaviorally impulsive,” therefore showing that the actual drug addiction is not the cause of it.

These findings are very important for many addictive drugs such as nicotine and opiates. The next step will to find the genes that are responsible for the reduced amount of these certain brain receptors. Further research can lead to helping individuals with ADHD, drug addiction, and pathological gambling.

This article was of interest to me due to our current lectures in neurophysiology. There is still so much to learn about the brain, so any new findings are very exciting and can be of use to biomedical engineers.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070302082810.htm

Janelle Fawver
VTPP 434-502