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Potential New Treatment for Drug Addiction Relapse Revealed

posted by mrpg on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:00AM   Printer-friendly
from the war-on-drugs-with-brains dept.

Arthur T Knackerbracket has found the following story:

Research published in Addiction Biology by scientists at the University of Bath reveals a new potential mechanism for combatting drug addiction relapse.

Relapsing into drug taking is a big problem in treating addiction, where the majority of addicts return to drug-taking within 12 months of quitting. This is brought into focus by the burgeoning 'opioid epidemic' of prescription as well as recreational opioid drugs, such as morphine and heroin. Addiction relapse is associated with drug-related cues such as places, drug paraphernalia, the drug itself, or stress, highlighting that memories play a key role in addiction relapse.

In this study researchers at Bath, working with colleagues from the University of Surrey and RenaSci, used an animal model to study relapse to morphine seeking behaviour. Rats or mice learned to associate particular environmental cues with morphine. After removal of the drugs, relapse back to drug-seeking behaviour occurred in response to getting the cues again.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by frojack on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:15PM

    by frojack (1554) on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:15PM (#695046) Journal

    The useful bits...

    The Bath team wanted to test the effect of using a blocker for a brain neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, which is involved in memory processes. They tested the effect of a blocker of a specific receptor for acetylcholine -- the alpha7 nicotinic receptor -- to see if this might impair relapse. This drug, methyllycaconitine (MLA), that comes from Delphinium plants, selectively blocked morphine relapse (but not the initial learning to seek drugs), in both mice and rats./quote>

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