Discovery of new neural pathway may lead to preventing
relapses in addicts
(June 18, 2015) Researchers
at the University at Buffalo have discovered a previously unknown neural
pathway that can regulate changes made in the brain due to cocaine use,
providing new insight into the molecular basis of cocaine addiction.
“Addiction is a life-long affliction manifested by episodes
of relapse, despite prolonged abstinence,” says Amy Gancarz, PhD, lead author
of the study, which was published on June 1 in an Advance Online Publication in
Nature Neuroscience. “There is a need to more fully understand the long-term
molecular changes in the brain involved in drug craving and relapse.”
Gancarz, a former postdoctoral associate with the UB
Research Institute on Addictions (RIA), worked on the study under the direction
of senior author David Dietz, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of
Pharmacology and Toxicology in UB’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.
Dietz is also a faculty member in UB’s Neuroscience Program and an affiliated
scientist with RIA.