Cocaine Addiction News and Research

RSS

Cocaine dependence (or addiction) is physical and psychological dependency on the regular use of cocaine. It can result in severe physiological damage, psychosis, schizophrenia, lethargy, depression, or a potentially fatal overdose.

Study details brain mechanisms involved with addictive substances

The National Institutes of Health has turned to neuroscientists at the nation's most "Stone Cold Sober" university for help finding ways to treat drug and alcohol addiction.

1 Jul 2014

Group of 11 genes could help predict alcoholism risk

A group of 11 genes can successfully predict whether an individual is at increased risk of alcoholism, a research team from the United States and Germany reported Tuesday.

22 May 2014

UTMB awarded $6.6 million grant to establish Translational Addiction Sciences Center

The National Institute on Drug Abuse has awarded a five-year, $6.6 million grant to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston to establish the Translational Addiction Sciences Center. The center will investigate the mechanisms underlying addiction with the goal of discovering and validating novel treatment options.

26 Apr 2014

UB research finds novel compound for treating cocaine addiction

A novel compound that targets an important brain receptor has a dramatic effect against a host of cocaine addiction behaviors, including relapse behavior, a University at Buffalo animal study has found.

25 Apr 2014

Social cognitive deficits contribute to perpetuation of cocaine addiction, say scientists

In Europe as well as worldwide, cocaine is the second most frequently used drug after cannabis. Chronic cocaine users display worse memory performance, concentration difficulties, and attentional deficits but also their social skills are affected as previous studies at the Psychiatric Hospital of the University of Zurich suggested.

22 Jan 2014

Researchers identify molecular mechanism by which cocaine alters brain's reward circuits, causes addiction

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have identified a new molecular mechanism by which cocaine alters the brain's reward circuits and causes addiction.

21 Jan 2014

Researchers hope for a pharmacological solution to treat cocaine addiction

Imagine kicking a cocaine addiction by simply popping a pill that alters the way your brain processes chemical addiction. New research from the University of Pittsburgh suggests that a method of biologically manipulating certain neurocircuits could lead to a pharmacological approach that would weaken post-withdrawal cocaine cravings. The findings have been published in Nature Neuroscience.

17 Dec 2013

MRI provides noninvasive way to measure iron levels in the brains of ADHD people

Magnetic resonance imaging provides a noninvasive way to measure iron levels in the brains of people with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, according to a study being presented today at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America. Researchers said the method could help physicians and parents make better informed decisions about medication.

2 Dec 2013

Protein linked to learning induces cocaine addiction, say researchers

A team of researchers says it has solved the longstanding puzzle of why a key protein linked to learning is also needed to become addicted to cocaine. Results of the study, published in the Aug. 1 issue of the journal Cell, describe how the learning-related protein works with other proteins to forge new pathways in the brain in response to a drug-induced rush of the “pleasure” molecule dopamine.

2 Aug 2013

Ritalin helps improve brain function in cocaine addiction

A single dose of a commonly-prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder drug helps improve brain function in cocaine addiction, according to an imaging study conducted by researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

28 Jun 2013

TSRI scientists find emotion-related brain region plays major role in sustaining cocaine addiction

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found evidence that an emotion-related brain region called the central amygdala—whose activity promotes feelings of malaise and unhappiness—plays a major role in sustaining cocaine addiction.

13 Jun 2013

Research findings reveal promising new anti-addiction drug

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have unraveled the molecular foundations of cocaine's effects on the brain, and identified a compound that blocks cravings for the drug in cocaine-addicted mice.

23 May 2013

Study: Altering brain activity with laser light eliminates addictive behavior in rats

By stimulating one part of the brain with laser light, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have shown that they can wipe away addictive behavior in rats - or conversely turn non-addicted rats into compulsive cocaine seekers.

4 Apr 2013

Study shows relationship between cocaine-induced brain deficits in prefrontal cortex and cocaine-seeking

Could drug addiction treatment of the future be as simple as an on/off switch in the brain? A study in rats has found that stimulating a key part of the brain reduces compulsive cocaine-seeking and suggests the possibility of changing addictive behavior generally.

4 Apr 2013

New research may shed light on alcohol addiction vulnerability in some people

A Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center team studying alcohol addiction has new research that might shed light on why some drinkers are more susceptible to addiction than others.

27 Mar 2013

Discovery could lead to new target for treatment of cocaine addiction

Scientists have discovered a molecular process in the brain triggered by cocaine use that could provide a target for treatments to prevent or reverse addiction to the drug.

16 Mar 2013

Scientists pinpoint neural basis for stress-related relapse in rat models

All too often, stress turns addiction recovery into relapse, but years of basic brain research have provided scientists with insight that might allow them develop a medicine to help. A new study in the journal Neuron pinpoints the neural basis for stress-related relapse in rat models to an unprecedented degree.

7 Mar 2013

Study supports hypothesis that disulfiram reduces drug consumption by blocking DβH

Disulfiram was the first medication approved for the treatment of alcoholism over 50 years ago. It works, at least in part, by preventing the metabolism of an alcohol by-product, acetaldehyde. High levels of acetaldehyde in the body quickly cause unpleasant symptoms, including nausea, vomiting, headache, and accelerated heart rate. Thus, disulfiram provides a very strong incentive to avoid drinking.

1 Feb 2013

Researchers identify brain mechanisms that regulate cocaine-seeking behavior

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) have identified mechanisms in the brain responsible for regulating cocaine-seeking behavior, providing an avenue for drug development that could greatly reduce the high relapse rate in cocaine addiction.

19 Oct 2012

Addiction and mental health burden higher than all cancers in Ontario

Mental illnesses and addictions take more of a toll on the health of Ontarians than cancer or infectious diseases, according to a new report by the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and Public Health Ontario - yet this burden could be reduced with treatment, say scientists from Canada's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health.

11 Oct 2012