Glutamate may affect substance abuse

Researchers at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have found that removing a neuroreceptor in mice that controls the release of the neurotransmitter glutamate can make cocaine less effective against it, increasing its chances of quiting cocaine addiction. The paper was published in
Journal.
, called mGluR2, protects nerve cells from the deadly effects of overdosing glutamate and is also linked to drug abuse. The researchers knocked out genes that express the receptor to study the role of mGluR2 in cocaine addiction in mice.
showed that mice without the receptor were more likely to take freely available ready-made cocaine than to do more to find it. When the researchers stopped supplying them with cocaine, the mice quickly ended their addiction. Even when the researchers again provided cocaine, mice were less interested and had a lower rate of addiction recurrence.
"gene-knocking mice enjoyed less 'fun' of cocaine use, " he said. So when the drugs are supplied indefinitely, they can be 'rewarded' by heavy use. But when the drug is hard to come by, rewards are hard to motivate mice to look around, so they quit. Zheng-Xiong Xi, a NIDA addiction researcher and co-author of the study, said.
, the study revealed the role of glutamate in cocaine addiction at the cellular level. Previous studies have focused on the role of dopamine in addiction rewards. In the long run, mGluR2's involvement in addiction mechanisms makes it a dual role: acting as a biomarker and therapeutic drug target for predicting the risk of cocaine addiction. Next, the researchers plan to find out the effects of mGluR2 on opioid addiction, such as heroin. (Source: Science Network Tang One Dust)