Neuroscience

How serotonin curbs cocaine addiction

Contrary to common thinking, cocaine triggers an addiction in only 20 percent of consumers. But what happens in their brains when they lose control of their consumption? Thanks to a recent experimental method, neuroscientists ...

Neuroscience

Brain research reveals a circuit for cocaine relapse

Approximately 1.5 million Americans use cocaine in a given year, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Many are repeat users. Unfortunately, there are currently no FDA-approved medicinal treatments for cocaine ...

Psychology & Psychiatry

Women's hormones play role in drug addiction, higher relapse rates

Women's hormonal cycles may not only make them more prone to drug addiction but also more affected by triggers that lead to relapse, a new Vanderbilt University study revealed. The findings are especially significant since ...

Genetics

Gene therapy via skin protects mice from lethal cocaine doses

There are no approved medications to treat either cocaine addiction or overdose. Frequent users tend to become less and less sensitive to the drug, leading to stronger or more frequent doses. The typical result is addiction. ...

Neuroscience

Cocaine relapse is reversed with BDNF microinjections in the brain

Cocaine relapse was significantly reduced in a preclinical model when brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) was applied to the nucleus accumbens deep in the brain immediately before cocaine-seeking behavior, report investigators ...

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