Hormone Dopamine Linked to Addiction and Risk-Taking

February 15th, 2010

New research on dopamine and dopamine receptor profiles could lead to new drug addiction prevention and treatments.

Japanese and Danish scientists have shown in new research that those with higher dopamine levels in the brain have a greater need for stimulation, due in part to the lowered dopamine-sensitivity.

Dopamine is the “gratification” hormone, widely known to relate to the physiology of addiction. Previous research has discovered that drug addictions such as cocaine addiction work by causing a build-up of dopamine in the brain. This build up, in turn, causes a lower sensitivity to the neurotransmitter.

However, according to the new research, it is the naturally occurring higher levels of dopamine in the brain that can lead to addictive behaviours. Dopamine levels can indicate a natural predisposition to risk-taking, and addiction.

Dopamine has been connected to both behaviours—each involve chasing a high, whether naturally induced or chemically. As well, drug addiction can be classified as a high-risk behaviour. Studies have shown that sensation seeking, the constant need for stimulation, and drug or alcohol abuse involves the same reward system in the brain.

Higher levels of dopamine, and lower sensitivity to the hormone, leads to greater risk-taking—and thus greater chance of addiction to drugs, gambling, and more.

Lead by Albert Gjedde of Copenhagen University, researchers used brain scans of volunteers to measure dopamine and dopamine receptor levels. Those on the higher end of the dopamine scale felt less affects from the same amount of the hormone than those on the lower end of the scale.

They also discovered that those who fell on opposite ends of the scale had significantly different dopamine and dopamine receptor profiles.

Their research suggests that it could be more effective to increase or decrease dopamine levels, rather than try to block dopamine receptors in the brain, to treat drug addiction. These findings could help to develop new ways to prevent and treat addiction.

Source: The National Post

Posted in Addiction Treatment, Cocaine, Drug Addiction | No Comments »

How Cocaine Addiction Works

January 22nd, 2010

What is Cocaine
Cocaine is a stimulant, a psychoactive drug that temporarily increases mental and/or physical functioning. Unlike other stimulants, cocaine is not used as a prescription medicine, but is an illicit drug carefully controlled throughout the world. Cocaine is used primarily recreationally and is a widely abused drug.

Cocaine is highly addictive.

Cocaine was very popular throughout most of the 1980s and 90s, and recent studies suggest that its popularity continues strong. Cocaine, also known as “coke”, “c”, “snow”, “flake” and “blow” among other nicknames, is commonly sold on the streets as a fine white powder.

“Crack”, on the other hand, is freebase cocaine—a water-insoluble cocaine base. Crack is processed to be smokeable. It is the crackling noises of smoking the drug that has given it its name.

In 2007, there were approximately 2.1 million cocaine users in the US alone, 610,000 of who were current crack users. Eighteen to 25 year olds represent the highest number of current users.

Cocaine Addiction & Other Dangers
Repeated cocaine use can result in addiction. New research into cocaine addiction in the brain is uncovering why. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in 2007 close to 1.6 million Americans could be classified as addicted to or abusing cocaine, according to the general diagnostic guidelines.

Cocaine is a very dangerous drug, especially when over- or misused. A 2005 study reported that almost 450,000 of the 1,450,000 visits to emergency rooms across the US were due to cocaine use/misuse. This boils down to almost 1 in 3 ER visits involving cocaine.

There is no safe form of cocaine. Nor is there a safe way to use cocaine. Whether by snorting, injecting or smoking cocaine, you are still at risk of imbibing toxic amounts of the drug. Too much cocaine can result in acute cardiovascular or cerebrovascular emergencies, seizures, and sudden death.

How Cocaine Works in the Brain
Cocaine causes pleasurable effects by stimulating the pleasure and reward centers of the brain. Cocaine stimulates the central nervous system, causing increased levels of dopamine in the reward center. Dopamine is the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and movement. Normally, certain brain cells, called neurons, use dopamine to communicate amongst each other. In this process, dopamine is released in the brain in response to a pleasure signal. The dopamine-releasing cell recycles the neurotransmitter, shutting off the communication between the neurons.

However, cocaine prevents the dopamine recycling process, resulting in a build up of dopamine in the brain. This causes a never-ending chatter between the neurons—the euphoric high.

Repeated long-term cocaine use causes changes to the brain’s functioning leading to addiction.

How Cocaine Addiction Works
The risks for cocaine addiction are high. New research suggests that prolonged use of cocaine changes a genetic expression, or the behaviour of the gene, in the brain resulting in the prevention of specific enzymes from shutting genes off in the pleasure circuits of the brain. This causes heightened cravings for the drug, and thus drug-seeking behaviours.

As well, with continued use, the brain builds a tolerance for the drug. Continued and prolonged exposure to the drug causes the brain to adapt so that the reward pathways become less sensitive to both natural reinforcements as well as cocaine itself. This decreased sensitivity is a result of decreased amounts of dopamine receptors in the brain, and is also the root of the drug addiction.

Furthermore, the risks of relapse are high with cocaine, as the drug will have a strong hold on the addicted brain even after long periods of sobriety. Research has shown that physical cues, or triggers, cause visceral memories of the using experience that result in intense cravings and even relapse.


Cocaine Addiction Treatment
A Cocaine Addiction Treatment Program is vitally important to a successful recovery from addiction. Rarely does going it alone or going cold turkey work. Addiction is a complicated process with deep roots. Addiction recovery requires support, therapy, and a retraining of the brain.

We believe in an all-encompassing approach to cocaine and all drug addiction treatments. Our Cocaine Addiction Treatment Program treats more than the physical addiction, healing the underlying issues at play. We work together with each of our clients to design an addiction treatment program that works for each individual.

With our different therapies, clients learn to take personal responsibility for their decisions, good and bad, to recognize addiction triggers, and to cope with life’s stresses in a healthy and productive fashion.

Heritage Home also has several non-traditional therapies available, from native healing circles, to laughter therapy, and creative art therapies. Through these classes, clients learn about themselves in new situations, how to interact with others sober, and how to have fun without cocaine.

For more information on cocaine and cocaine addiction:
Heritage Home Drug Rehab Center
Cocaine Addiction Vaccine Research
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Cocaine Research Report
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Cocaine InfoFacts
Centre for Addiction & Mental Health (CAMH) Cocaine Information

Posted in Addiction Treatment, Cocaine | 1 Comment »

Cocaine Addiction: Gene Alterations From Prolonged Cocaine Use

January 18th, 2010

US Researchers at NIDA report having identified a key brain mechanism, better explaining how and why cocaine addiction occurs.

Announced last week, January 7th 2009, government scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) said that the new discoveries about the root of cocaine addiction could lead to the development of new drug treatments.

In experiments with mice, scientists showed how cocaine affects the epigenetic process histone methylation. Prolonged cocaine use, they found, can cause permanent changes to the way certain genes turn on and off.

Epigenetic is a process that influences a gene’s expression or appearance without changing the underlying DNA sequence, causing the gene to behave, or express, itself differently.

Histone methylation is the modification of certain amino acids in a histone protein, or the protein around which a DNA strand wind, which essentially turns the DNA off.

Cocaine in the brain prevents the enzyme from shutting off genes in the pleasure circuits of the brain, heightening cravings for more cocaine.

Furthermore, scientists were able to reverse the effects by increasing the activity of that particular gene, completely reversing the effects of chronic cocaine use. As well, scientists reported that it is likely that this be the same process for other addictions, including alcohol addiction, thereby potentially leading to new, more effective, addiction treatments.

“This fundamental discovery advances our understanding of how cocaine addiction works,” Dr. Nora D. Volkow, director of NIDA, said via press release. “Although more research will be required, these findings have identified a key new player in the molecular cascade triggered by repeated cocaine exposure, and thus a potential novel target for the development of addiction medications.”

The findings also help to explain addiction’s long-term cravings and relapse despite periods of total abstinence.

Source: Business Week & Ottawa Citizen

Posted in Addiction Treatment, Alcohol Addiction, Cocaine, Drug Addiction | 1 Comment »

New Cocaine Addiction Treatment on the Horizon: A Bacterial Enzyme

January 6th, 2010

Researchers in the UK have identified a bacterial enzyme that, they say, breaks cocaine down in the body, effectively reducing the drug’s addictiveness and may help fight both cocaine addiction and overdose.

The naturally occurring bacterial enzyme, Cocaine esterase or CocE, essentially breaks cocaine molecules down in the body, reducing its physical addictiveness and eventually lead to a new way to treat cocaine addiction, as well as help reduce cocaine overdose.

CocE, researchers found, is only active in the body for a rather short period of time. However, they have also found a more stable version in a double mutant bacterial version, DM CocE.

In their clinical trial, published in the Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, researchers from The Scripps Research Institute trained rats to self-administer cocaine. By pressing a button, cocaine would be released to the rats, mimicking human drug-seeking behaviour common to all addictions.

Once given the double mutant bacterial enzyme, the rats pressed the cocaine-administering button far less, suggesting that the enzyme successfully broke the cocaine down and rendered it far less physically addictive.

Lead researcher told reporters that although the enzyme is not a fail-safe cure for “determined users”, it could nonetheless prove to be a new effective therapeutic approach.

As with all medical interventions to treat addiction, this new treatment should be used in conjunction with a therapeutic drug addiction treatment program.

However, unlike others, it seems at first to have far less harmful side effects and be less addictive in the long term, and could very well prove to be an exciting development in the treatment of cocaine addiction.

Source: The Telegraph

Posted in Cocaine, Drug Addiction, Treatment Approaches | No Comments »

Alcohol and Marijuana Use Genetically Linked

January 4th, 2010

New twin study out of the US suggests that the same gene that leads to drinking alcohol may also lead to marijuana use.

Twin studies are used to better understand the genetic influence of behaviours. In such studies, scientists compare the results from identical twin sets, who have identical genetics, with the results from fraternal twin sets, who only share some genes.

The new study looked at 2,761 sets of identical and fraternal twins, as well as 736 non-twin individuals, from 24 to 36 years of age. All subjects were interviewed about their alcohol and marijuana use.

Although researchers found little overlap between the environmental factors that influence use, they found significant overlap in the genetic factors that influence.

In previous twin studies, about 50 to 60 percent of the variance in alcohol dependence could be explained by genetic factors. Studies also previously suggested that genetics played a major role in marijuana and other drug addictions.

However, this new study found that over 60 percent of the variance in alcohol and marijuana use, and marijuana dependence, was linked to genetic factors, supporting the theory that common genes play a role in all addiction & substance abuse.

The results are to be published in Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research March 2010.

Source: WebMD

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Happy New Year

January 1st, 2010

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Marijuana Use by Teens More Detrimental than Previously Thought

December 28th, 2009

New research from the McGill University Health Centre in Montreal, Qc. suggests that the effect of daily cannabis use on the teenage brain is worse than previously thought. Moreover, the long-term effects appear irreversible.

Marijuana, the most used illicit drug, has long been considered a ‘soft’ drug—minimally damaging in comparison to most other, ‘hard’, drugs such as cocaine or heroin. Marijuana’s addictive properties have also been long argued.

However, according to researchers at the McGill University Health Centre, daily cannabis use leads to depression and anxiety, as it impacts both serotonin and norepinephrine—the chemical compounds that help control mood and anxiety in the brain.

Researchers observed 18 teenage rats as they were exposed to cannabis. The rats showed decreased levels of serotonin, affecting mood, and higher levels of norepinephrine, making them more susceptible to long-term stress (anxiety).

Permanent changes in these parts of the brain, say researchers, are linked to several different mental illnesses.

Even if the cannabis exposure was stopped, the study continues, at the end of the teenage years, the changes were still detectable in the rats in adulthood. T

he study’s lead researcher says that the study shows that the effects of cannabis use in teenagers is far more devastating, than in adults. Cannabis, it seems, interferes with the development of the serotonin and norepinephrine systems.

Next, researchers say they will observe young marijuana smokers.

Findings were published in The Neurobiology of Disease.

Source: Canadian Press

Posted in Cannabis, Drug Addiction, Marijuana | No Comments »

Merry Christmas

December 25th, 2009
Image courtesy of DryIcons

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Alcohol Addiction Found in Fruit Flies

December 23rd, 2009

According to a new study, fruit flies show both desperation and relapse when exposed to alcohol for a length of time.

Researchers say their study may shed light on the genetic roots of alcohol addiction.

Fruit flies, it may seem strange, are often used for genetic studies due both to their rapid reproductive rate, as well as their chemical pathways similar to humans. Previously, fruit flies were used for intoxication and tolerance studies.

This new study out of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) looked specifically at addiction, with the hope of later working “out the genes underlying addiction-like behaviours,” co-author Anita Devineni told National Geographic News.

For the first experiment, fruit flies were presented with two different liquids—one containing ethanol (a form of alcohol) and the other without. The flies were given unlimited access to the liquids, although feeders were only refilled once a day. The fruit flies showed an overwhelming preference for the alcohol-filled liquid.

Furthermore, the more they drank of it, the more they seemed to crave it—their bouts of drinking became more frequent over time.

In the second experiment, researchers tainted the alcoholic liquid with substances known to normally repulse fruit flies. However, they drank on!

Researchers then forced the flies into a three-day dry spell—quite a bout of time when your lifespan is about 30 days. As soon as the flies were offered the alcoholic liquid again, the flies returned to drinking at the same levels as before the enforced dry spell, very similar to an alcoholic’s relapse.

The next stage of research is in hopes of identifying the genes behind relapse, potentially leading to a lasting and effective addiction treatment for alcoholism.

The findings appear in Current Biology.

Source: National Geographic News

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Dark Chocolate Found to Help Lower Stress

December 21st, 2009

Just in time for the Holidays, yet another reason to eat chocolate!

The “healing” properties of chocolate have long been suspected—the euphoric rush of endorphin triggered love-like feelings, the surge of satisfaction. For some, chocolate is even an aphrodisiac. Dark chocolate, with its high levels of antioxidants, has been purported to have a number of health benefits, from anticancer, to cough preventer and antidiarrhoeal effects.

There are also many connections between the foods we eat and addiction, with a great deal of research on addiction and nutrition. Good nutrition has proven to positively impact symptoms of withdrawal and craving. At Heritage Home, we have seen it for ourselves, taking great care to incorporate a healthy menu into our holistic addiction therapy program.

New research from the Nestle Research Centre in Lausanne, Switzerland now suggests that a daily dose of dark chocolate reduces stress in those experiencing high levels—great news for all of us here as we approach this chocolate-filled time of year. Recovering from alcohol or drug addiction can be a highly stressful experience as you learn to live and experience your life free of drugs and alcohol. And a new stress reliever is always welcomed news.

In their most recent study, Nestle researchers studied 30 healthy adult men and women who consumed two portions of 20 grams of dark chocolate daily for 14 consecutive days. Participants were split into two groups—low stress and moderate stress as measured by a questionnaire.

Individuals reporting higher levels of stress had such anxiety traits as experiencing higher levels of everyday stress, showing distinct differences in energy and hormonal metabolism, and differences in gut microbial activities.

With the daily dose of dark chocolate, these subjects showed reduced levels of stress-associated hormones and the normalization of stress-related metabolic differences, suggesting that a daily dose of dark chocolate positively impacts stress-related metabolic differences in individuals with higher levels of stress.

Source: Behavioral Health Central

Posted in Alcohol Addiction, Drug Addiction, Nutrition, Substance Abuse | No Comments »

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