Cocaine increases dopamine levels in the brain, causing users to get "high." (Photo : Reuters)
Scientists in Shanghai have made an amazing breakthrough that may help millions of drug addicts across the globe. Through a switch-like protein, the researchers have found a way to curb cocaine addiction.
The team of researchers hail from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and was led by lead researcher Zhou Jiawei.
How does cocaine work? The drug affects the brain by increasing dopamine levels. This kind of neurotransmitter plays a role in important brain functions, such as the feeling of pleasure and reward. The "high" that cocaine users feel is indicative of the drug's effects on the brain; by inhibiting certain proteins to reabsorb the neurotransmitter, dopamine levels build up.
According to Zhou, the dopamine transporter or DAT travels from inside the neuron to the cell's surface while the addiction is being formed.
"We've found that the key difference lies in DAT's location in the brain," he said. "A countermove would block the migration so that the development of the addiction may be put off."
To block the growing addiction to cocaine, the team believes that a small protein called VAV2 will help regulate the migration of DAT.
For the researchers, the discovery of the "switch-like" protein may hold the answers to successful cocaine rehabilitation efforts.
In their paper, which was published on July 7 on the New York-based journal Nature Neuroscience, the scientists reported that mice with ineffective VAV2 protein showed diminished behavioral response toward cocaine.
Humans are a different question, however. "Although gene removal is ethically questionable, ways can be designed to suppress the gene through medication," Zhou said.
According to the World Drug Report 2015 by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, there are about 17 million people in the world who suffer from cocaine addiction.
