Researchers find new way to fight cocaine addiction
UC Irvine pharmacological researchers have discovered that blocking a hormone related to hunger regulation can limit cocaine cravings. Their findings could herald a new approach to overcoming addiction.
View ArticleCocaine-linked genes enhance behavioral effects of addiction
New research sheds light on how cocaine regulates gene expression in a crucial reward region of the brain to elicit long-lasting changes in behavior. The study, published by Cell Press in the May 14th...
View ArticleComputer model shows changes in brain mechanisms for cocaine addicts
About 2 million Americans currently use cocaine for its temporary side-effects of euphoria, which have contributed to making it one of the most dangerous and addictive drugs in the country. Cocaine...
View ArticleStudies improve knowledge of underlying brain changes caused by addiction
New research using animal models is enabling a deeper understanding of the neurobiology of compulsive drug addiction in humans — knowledge that may lead to more effective treatment options to weaken...
View ArticleWhy can't some people give up cocaine?
Drug dependency is a recurrent but treatable kind of addiction. However, not all people who are drug dependent progress in the same way once they stop taking drugs. A new study shows that, in the case...
View ArticleUndergrad researchers lay groundwork for drug addiction remedy
Sarah Steele and Langtian "Ren" Yuan were both self-admittedly inexperienced Duke freshmen in the spring of 2006. But then they followed helpful directions of an assistant chemistry professor, added...
View ArticleNew mechanism underlying cocaine addiction discovered
Researchers have identified a key epigenetic mechanism in the brain that helps explain cocaine's addictiveness, according to research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the...
View ArticleCocaine or ecstasy consumption during adolescence increases risk of addiction
Exposure to ecstasy or cocaine during adolescence increases the "reinforcing effects" that make people vulnerable to developing an addiction. This is the main conclusion of a research team from the...
View ArticleIncreasing neurogenesis might prevent drug addiction and relapse
Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center hope they have begun paving a new pathway in the fight against drug dependence. Their hypothesis - that increasing the normally occurring process of making...
View ArticleScientists uncover previously unknown natural mechanism that controls cocaine...
Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have found that a particular type of genetic material plays a key role in determining vulnerability to cocaine addiction and may offer an entirely new...
View ArticleTuning cocaine addiction
small bits of genetic material that influence gene expression - reduces the urge for a cocaine fix in mice, according to a paper published online on July 19 in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.
View ArticleMicroRNAs play a role in cocaine addiction
MicroRNAs, already linked to cancer, heart disease and mental disorders such as schizophrenia, may also be involved in addiction. A team of Rockefeller University neuroscientists has shown that a...
View ArticleDrugs to treat cocaine abuse?
The authors of a new study in Biological Psychiatry explore pharmacological strategies for reducing cocaine self-administration in animals that may have implications for treating cocaine dependence in...
View ArticleExperimental treatments for cocaine addiction may prevent relapse
Doctors have used the drug disulfiram to help patients stay sober for several decades. It interferes with the body's ability to metabolize alcohol, giving a fierce hangover to someone who consumes even...
View ArticleRitalin improves brain function, task performance in cocaine abusers
(PhysOrg.com) -- Brain-scanning study shows Ritalin improves impaired brain function in people addicted to cocaine, implying it could play a role in facilitating recovery from addiction.
View ArticleBrain mechanism linked to relapse after cocaine withdrawal
Addictive drugs are known to induce changes in the brain's reward circuits that may underlie drug craving and relapse after long periods of abstinence. Now, new research, published by Cell Press in the...
View ArticleCincinnati researchers conducting clinical trial of cocaine vaccine
Researchers at the University of Cincinnati are conducting a clinical trial for a vaccine designed to treat cocaine addiction by preventing the drug from entering the brain, thus reducing its...
View ArticleExperts urge making cigarettes non-addictive a research priority
After a major review of scientific information, six leading tobacco research and policy experts have concluded that a nicotine reduction strategy should be an urgent research priority because of its...
View ArticleHope for treatment of cocaine addiction
(PhysOrg.com) -- Two separate discoveries by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) offer potential for development of a first-ever pharmacological treatment for cocaine addiction.
View ArticleCocaine: Perceived as a reward by the brain?
Cocaine is one of the oldest drugs known to humans, and its abuse has become widespread since the end of the 19th century. At the same time, we know rather little about its effects on the human brain...
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