Study Finds Changes in Brain Mechanisms for Cocaine Addicts

A team of Indian researchers at University of Missouri is exploring how brain reacts to cocaine addiction - something that would open up new avenues for developing future therapies.

Lead researchers Ashwin Mohan and Sandeep Pendyam, doctoral students in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, are utilizing computational models to study how the brain's chemicals and synaptic mechanisms, or connections between neurons, react to cocaine addiction.

Drug Abuse | Drug Addiction | Substance Abuse - Overview
The use of Drugs for reasons other than its prescribed recommendation, is known as Drug abuse or substance abuse. Drug abuse or substance abuse is initiated by various biological and social factors.

"With cocaine addiction, addicts don't feel an urge to revolt because there is a strong connection in the brain from the decision-making center to the pleasure center, which overwhelms other normal rewards and is why they keep seeking it," Pendyam said.

"By using computational models, we're targeting the connection in the brain that latches onto the pleasure center and the parameters that maintain that process," he added.

Glutamate is the major chemical released in the synaptic connections in the brain. The right amount present determines the activity of those connections.

Drug Abuse Screening Test
Drug Abuse Screening Test (DAST) is a screening test to find out if you need professional help with ‘Drug Abuse’ problem. This is only an anonymous self test.

Using the computational model, the researchers found that in an addict's brain excessive glutamate produced in the pleasure center makes the brain's mechanisms unable to regulate themselves and creates permanent damage, making cocaine addiction a disease that is more than just a behavioral change.

"Our model showed that the glutamate transporters, a protein present around these connections that remove glutamate, are almost 40 percent less functional after chronic cocaine usage," said Mohan.

Brilliant Human Brain
The most amazing and complex organ in the entire universe, the human brain continues to remain an enigma.

"This damage is long lasting, and there is no way for the brain to regulate itself. Thus, the brain structure in this context actually changes in cocaine addicts," Mohan added.

The researchers also found that the parameters of the brain that activate the pleasure center's connections beyond those that have been discovered must undergo alteration in order for addicts to recover.

Interaction Between Antidepressant Drugs, Cocaine and Brain Cells Identified
A team of researchers from Weill Cornell Medical College and Columbia University Medical Center has found out how antidepressant drugs, cocaine, and amphetamines interact with brain cells.

The study is published in journal Neuroscience.

Source-ANI
LIN