cocaine addiction

When given a choice between viewing pictures of cocaine and a variety of other images, cocaine addicted individuals, as compared to healthy, non-addicted research subjects, show a clear preference for the drug-related images.

(University of California - San Francisco) Rats that voluntarily use cocaine show a persistent cellular memory in the brain's reward center even after several months of abstinence from the drug, while their involuntary counterparts had no such memory, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, San Francisco.

New research in monkeys suggests the feasibility of treating cocaine addiction with a "replacement" drug that mimics the effects of cocaine but has less potential for abuse -- similar to the way nicotine and heroin addictions are treated.

Cocaine addicts often suffer a downward emotional spiral that is a key to their craving and chronic relapse. While researchers have developed animal models of the reward of cocaine, they have not been able to model this emotional impact, until now.

Diltiazem, a drug used in the treatment of high blood pressure, reduces cocaine cravings in a rat model. Previous work showed that two brain chemicals, dopamine and glutamate, independently contribute to the development of cocaine addiction.

This new research indicates that calcium channels provide critical links between dopamine and glutamate that drives the intense craving associated with cocaine addiction.

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston researchers a four-year, $3.4 million grant to develop what may become the first effective drugs to help people conquer cocaine addiction.

Researchers believe this ambitious program may ultimately benefit compulsive overeaters as well.