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Brain circuitry that drives drug-seeking compulsion identified
02-06-2008 · EurekAlert!In experiments with rats, researchers have identified the change in brain circuitry that drives development of a compulsion to seek drugs, even when that compulsion is self-destructive...
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Keywords: brain, circuitry, drives, drug-seeking, compulsion, identified, drive, drug, seeking
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- Knowing how ketamine impairs brain circuitry may lead to new therapies for schizophrenia
12-06-2007 · EurekAlert!
Scientists know that the drug ketamine -- street name "Special K" -- can induce schizophrenia-like symptoms in drug abusers. Ketamine is also used as an anesthetic and, more recently, as an antidepressant -- raising concerns by researchers at the UCSD School of Medicine, who have found that ketamine leads to the impairments in brain circuitry observed in both drug abusers and schizophrenic patients by causing increased production of a toxic free radical called "superoxide."
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- Brain region central to placebo effect identified
07-18-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers have pinpointed a brain region central to the machinery of the placebo effect -- the often controversial phenomenon in which a person's belief in the efficacy of a treatment such as a painkilling drug influences its effect.
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- Brain's 'social enforcer' centers identified
10-03-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers have identified brain structures that process the threat of punishment for violating social norms. They said that their findings suggest a neural basis for treating children, adolescents and even immature adults differently in the criminal justice system, since the neural circuitry for processing the threat of such punishment is not as developed in younger individuals as it is in adults. Their identification of the brain's "social norm compliance" structures also opens the way to exploring whether psychopaths have deficiencies in these structures' circuitry.
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- Molecular 'foreman' discovered for brain wiring
11-21-2007 · EurekAlert!
Researchers have identified a master regulatory molecule that is responsible for triggering the remodeling of neuronal connections that is critical for learning. Malfunctioning of the connection-remodeling machinery that they identified may also play a role in mental retardation, schizophrenia, and drug addiction. Thus, said the researchers, knowledge of the machinery could lead to insights into those disorders. Peter Penzes and colleagues published their findings in the Nov. 21, 2007, issue of the journal Neuron, published by Cell Press.
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- JCI table of contents: July 12, 2007
07-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
This release contains summaries, links to PDFs and contact information for the following newsworthy papers to be published online, July 12, 2007, in the JCI, including: "Src inhibitors may prove beneficial in breast cancer therapy"; "The clot thickens: protein interaction is a drug target for blood clot prevention"; "Eap1 in the brain regulates the female reproductive cycle"; and "Which T cell types drive the autoimmune response in multiple sclerosis?"
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- Chilean authors, publishing in Science, discover drug-craving brain region in rats
10-25-2007 · EurekAlert!
Chilean researchers have identified a region of the brain -- the insular cortex -- that plays a role in drug craving in amphetamine-addicted rats, according to a report published in the Oct. 26 issue of the journal Science, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the nonprofit science society.
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- Scientists identify brain circuits used in sensation of touch
10-10-2007 · EurekAlert!
The ability to tactually recognize fine spatial details, such as the raised dots used in braille, is especially important to those who are blind. With that in mind, a team of researchers has identified the neural circuitry that facilitates spatial discrimination through touch. Understanding this circuitry may lead to the creation of sensory-substitution devices, such as tactile maps for the visually impaired.
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- Old memory traces in brain may trigger chronic pain
06-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
A Northwestern University researcher has found a key source of chronic pain appears to be an old memory trace that essentially gets stuck in the prefrontal cortex, the site of emotion and learning. The researcher has identified a drug that controls persistent nerve pain by targeting the part of the brain that experiences the emotional suffering of pain. The drug is D-Cycloserine, which has been used to treat phobic behavior over the past decade.
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- UCLA study shows different areas of the brain respond to belief, disbelief and uncertainty
12-11-2007 · EurekAlert!
Using fMRI, researchers at UCLA have identified clear differences in the areas of the brain involved in belief, disbelief, and uncertainty. This finding has implications for the detection of deception, for the control of the placebo effect during drug design, and for the study of any higher cognitive phenomenon in which the differences among belief, disbelief and uncertainty might be relevant.
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- Common treatment for methamphetamine overdose may damage brain cells
05-29-2007 · EurekAlert!
A common antipsychotic drug used in emergency rooms to treat methamphetamine overdose damages nerve cells in an area of the brain known to regulate movement, a new study shows.
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