Drug blunts cocaine addiction in mice
Posted by staff / May 26, 2013 chemical compoundcocaine addictioncocaine cravingsJohns Hopkins University School of Medicine
Neuroscientists trying to explain cocaine’s effects on the brain have stumbled onto a chemical compound that blocks cravings for the drug in addicted mice.
A drug once tested as a possible treatment for Parkinson’s disease appears to reduce cocaine cravings in addicted mice. Researchers are hopeful the drug will become the first approved medication to treat cocaine addiction in people.
“It was remarkably serendipitous that when we learned which brain pathway cocaine acts on, we already knew of a compound . . . that blocks that specific pathway,” says Solomon Snyder, a professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. “Not only did CGP3466B help confirm the details of cocaine’s action, but it also may become the first drug approved to treat cocaine addiction.”
Full story at Futurity.
Photo credit: Valerie Everett/Flickr
Comments are off for this post.