All drugs tweak brain the same

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All drugs tweak brain the same

 

http://health.nzoom.com/health_detail/0,2811,180966-399-406,00.html

 

 

 

Whether you smoke a cigarette or use cocaine, certain nerve endings in the

brain are tweaked in the same way, which suggests there may be a universal

way to treat addiction, US researchers have said.

 

In fact, alcohol, cocaine, amphetamines, morphine and nicotine all make

brain cells hypersensitive, a team at Stanford University in California

reported.

 

" What we have identified is a single change caused by drugs of abuse with

different molecular mechanisms, " said Dr. Robert Malenka of Stanford

University Medical Center, who led the study.

 

The affected brain cells are in a region of the brain called the ventral

tegmental area, or VTA, Malenka's team reported in the Feb. 20 issue of the

journal Neuron .

 

Last year, Malenka and his colleagues gave cocaine to mice and found that

glutamate, a chemical in the body, was stimulating neurons in the VTA to

release dopamine, a key neurotransmitter or message-carrying chemical

associated with movement. The brain cells stayed super-sensitive to

glutamate for as long as a week, they found.

 

In Wednesday's study, they found the same is true for cocaine, morphine,

amphetamines, nicotine and alcohol. Stress caused similar changes, but

other, non-addictive drugs that act on the brain did not.

 

This could help explain why stress can cause a relapse in addicts. " When

drug addicts who are in remission and are doing fine are subject to stress,

they very often relapse, " he said.

 

The work could eventually lead to a universal drug to battle addiction,

Malenka said. " It's just the beginning of the story, but given that it is

happening in the VTA it is likely to lead someplace, " he said.

 

 

 

 

 

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