ZAP away the urge - Cocaine addiction

Researchers at the National Institutes of Health and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have recently founded that a simple zap from a laser can eliminate addictive behavior in rats. They use a laser light to stimulate the prelimbic region of the prefrontal cortex of the brain that turns a rat with an addictive personality into a rat that could care less about the sight of cocaine. Antonello Bonci, MD, scientific director of the intramural research program at the National Institute of Drug Abuse (NIDA) believes this shines a light on a new therapy we could try immediately on humans. Clinical trials have now been put in progress on not a laser treatment, but on an electromagnetic stimulation outside the scalp called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). 

As we have learned in class, Cocaine is a huge problem in the world today. It brings unnecessary high costs, not to mention the added toll of heart attacks, strokes, and death. This research is looking rather promising since the scientist in charge of the study is using an animal that has the same tendencies as humans to use the drug even if it is aware of the negative effects brought on by taking the drug. Low activity is shown in the prefrontal cortex of both humans and rats when taking Cocaine which means a low level of impulse control. Therefore, to test whether altering the activity in this area of the brain will have an effect on the addictiveness of the person, a technique called optogenetics has been created to turn this activity on or off using a laser. Taking light-sensitive proteins called rhodopsins and placing them into the rat's neurons on the prefrontal cortex allows them to turn the nerve cells on and off with the laser. Turning on these cells in the prefrontal cortex wiped out the rats addictive personality altogether. In contrast, turning the cells off switched on an addictive personality in rats who did not possess one in the first place. There is a way to do this same sort of thing in the limbic system of humans and has been used before to treat symptoms of depression. Bonci and his colleagues are beginning to do research on patients who have an addiction to Cocaine to turn off the action personality but then see if they can turn the activity back on and help the patients to resist using the drug. 

Abstract
Clinical trials research; laser light zaps away cocaine addiction. (2013). NewsRx Health & Science, , 98. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1325620693?accountid=12085