J neurosci: Study reveals the underlying mechanisms of cocaine addiction

November 1, 2020 /--- -- In a recent issue of Journal of Neuroscience, researchers at South Carolina Medical University and the National Institutes of Health described how drug use alerts change specific brain cells responsible for motivation, increasing the desire to seek drugs.
these connections with other brain cells are enhanced because the adesthon is the part of the brain cell that receives information from other neurons, expanding in response to intercellular communication between molecules in the brain.
increased connectivity increases the urge to take part in drug use and makes relapse more likely.
understanding of this communication pathway may lead to more targeted treatments for drug addiction.
study was led by Dr. Peter W. Kalivas, a professor in the MUSC Department of Neuroscience, and Dr. Constanza Garcia-Keller, an assistant professor who works at Kalivas Labs.
(Photo: www.pixabay.com) Kalivas Labs has been studying the mechanisms of addiction for decades.
previous studies, Kalivas and his team showed that the increase in the size of the stings was related to the extent to which animals played a role in drugs such as cocaine.
interesting is that the response is not from signals from other neurons, but from extracellular substrings surrounding these cells, which increase.
they found that these signals from outside brain cells cause changes inside neurons, altering their connections to other neurons.
Kalivas explains:
The key finding is that the enlargement of the ratchet is necessary and is caused by clues related to addictive drugs, not to clues related to natural rewards."
"this is an important difference because it means that multiple therapies can be developed to reduce the desire for drugs without depriving patients of a pleasant experience."
researchers were able to image fine images of neurons in the brain's volt-kernel, an area associated with drug addiction, using a high-resolution convesonant microscope.
they could see changes in the echis under different conditions, and even signal molecules inside the cell that led to an increase in spinal size.
of these molecules in these neurons is adhesive plaque kinase (FAK).
kalivas and his team used a drug to suppress the protein, the animals did not seek cocaine at the behest of exposure to the drug.
In addition, they found that modification of the kinase and actin binding protein cofilin led to an enlarged spine and enhanced connections between specific cell types in the brain, which are neurons in the D1 ratchet neuron-volt nuclei that stimulate specific behaviors.
actually have two cell groups in the volt core, " says Kalivas, a nuclear kernel.
one to stimulate motivation and the other to suppress behavior.
show that this signaling is transmitted by promoting the cell population of the motivational behavior, not the cell group responsible for suppressing the behavior.
other words, cocaine is altering the structure and function of the brain, especially in D1 medium prickly neurons, to stimulate animals to look for more cocaine.
better understanding of how drugs alter neuron structure by altering brain signals is critical to developing effective therapies to avoid recurrence.
Source: Motivation to seek cocaine is by elegant cellular communication Original source: Constanza Garcia-Keller et al, Relapse-Associated Transient Synaptic Portentiation Requires Integrin-Mediated Activation of Focal Adhesion Kinase and Cofilin in D1-Expressing Neurons, The Journal of 2020. DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2666-19.2020