http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. (Medical Xpress)—A study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health gives insight into changes in the reward circuitry of the brain that may provide resistance against cocaine addiction. Scientists found that strengthening signaling along a neural pathway that runs through the nucleus accumbens—a region of the brain involved in motivation, pleasure, and addiction—can reduce cocaine-seeking behavior in mice. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-pathway-cocaine-addiction.html Neuroscience Tue, 16 Apr 2013 05:53:06 EST news285310374 By stimulating one part of the brain with laser light, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have shown that they can wipe away addictive behavior in rats – or conversely turn non-addicted rats into compulsive cocaine seekers. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-laser-zaps-cocaine-addiction.html Neuroscience Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:24:07 EST news284214213 Scientists have discovered a molecular process in the brain triggered by cocaine use that could provide a target for treatments to prevent or reverse addiction to the drug. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-discovery-yield-treatment-cocaine-addicts.html Neuroscience Fri, 15 Mar 2013 11:49:19 EST news282566950 All too often, stress turns addiction recovery into relapse, but years of basic brain research have provided scientists with insight that might allow them develop a medicine to help. A new study in the journal Neuron pinpoints the neural basis for stress-related relapse in rat models to an unprecedented degree. The advance could accelerate progress toward a medicine that prevents stress from undermining addiction recovery. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-stress-induced-drug-relapse-rats.html Neuroscience Wed, 06 Mar 2013 12:00:13 EST news281792676 Scientists at UC Santa Barbara are researching cocaine addiction, part of a widespread problem, which, along with other addictions, costs billions of dollars in damage to individuals, families, and society. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-cocaine-addiction-reveals-treatment.html Neuroscience Wed, 13 Feb 2013 08:03:12 EST news279964974 (Medical Xpress)—What is the best intervention window for someone struggling with cocaine addiction? When he or she is in the middle of a drug binge, or after a period of abstinence when there is temptation to fall back into old habits? http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-treatment-cocaine-addiction-relapse.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 15 Jan 2013 07:18:42 EST news277456708 Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) have identified mechanisms in the brain responsible for regulating cocaine-seeking behavior, providing an avenue for drug development that could greatly reduce the high relapse rate in cocaine addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-memories-trigger-cocaine-relapse.html Neuroscience Wed, 17 Oct 2012 09:41:23 EST news269685673 Addicts unable to kick a cocaine habit could one day be vaccinated against cocaine and see proof with a molecular imaging technique that shows how the vaccine prompts antibodies to whisk away the drug before it can reach the brain, say researchers at SNM's 59th Annual Meeting. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-06-cocaine-vaccine-boost-molecular-imaging.html Medical research Mon, 11 Jun 2012 13:13:20 EST news258639182 Chronic exposure to cocaine reduces the expression of a protein known to regulate brain plasticity, according to new, in vivo research on the molecular basis of cocaine addiction. That reduction drives structural changes in the brain, which produce greater sensitivity to the rewarding effects of cocaine. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-05-chronic-cocaine-triggers-brain-neuron.html Neuroscience Wed, 09 May 2012 17:13:46 EST news255802413 New research from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York reveals that repeated exposure to cocaine decreases the activity of a protein necessary for normal functioning of the brain's reward system, thus enhancing the reward for cocaine use, which leads to addiction. Investigators were also able to block the ability of repeated cocaine exposure, to induce addiction. The findings, published online April 22 in the journal Nature Neuroscience, provide the first evidence of how cocaine changes the shape and size of neuron rewards in a mouse model. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-04-cocaine-decreases-protein-functioning-brain.html Neuroscience Sun, 22 Apr 2012 13:00:04 EST news254301633 Research published by Cell Press in the January 12 issue of the journal Neuron provides fascinating insight into a newly discovered brain mechanism that limits the rewarding impact of cocaine. The study describes protective delayed mechanism that turns off the genes that support the development of addiction-related behaviors. The findings may lead to a better understanding of vulnerability to addiction and as well as new strategies for treatment. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-01-brain-negative-impact-cocaine.html Neuroscience Wed, 11 Jan 2012 12:00:01 EST news245504340 New discoveries by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) offer potential for development of a first-ever pharmacological treatment for cocaine addiction. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-07-treatment-cocaine-addiction.html Medical research Fri, 15 Jul 2011 13:00:37 EST news229953617