A memory-boosting medication along with behavioral therapy could help addicts stay clean, animal study suggests. The study has suggested that D-cycloserine, previously used in the lab to treat fear and anxiety disorders, could help an addict resist drugs even when confronted with drug-related cues outside of rehab.
Substance abusers have high rates of relapse, often falling back into old habits only days after they 'quit.'
In this study, a group of researchers led by Mary Torregrossa of Yale University, observed 168 rats that self-administered cocaine for weeks, a behavior that mimics addiction in humans.
The authors then used a form of behavioral therapy called extinction therapy to dampen the craving-inducing effects of cues. The scientists supplemented the therapy with the memory-enhancing drug.
"Extinction therapy usually only works where the therapy takes place, like a treatment center," Torregrossa said.
"Using drugs like D-cycloserine to make extinction work more broadly is a big advancement in the treatment of addiction."
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The authors also found that the medication acted primarily on a brain region called the nucleus accumbens, an area associated with drug addiction and the formation of drug-related memories.
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"The study suggests that boosting the activity of glutamate in a specific area of the brain removes this context-specificity of extinction, and might therefore make existing addiction therapies more effective," Everitt said.
The findings were published in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Source-ANI