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Cocaine
NORTH CHICAGO, ILL. (September 28, 2005) -- A methamphetamine epidemic rages across the United States with addicts blinded by uncontrollable desires for a drug that eventually thrusts them into a dire and catastrophic existence. Doctors don't have any effective treatments for these addicts, or for any other drug addicts; drug addiction is a disease that remains a medical mystery. A recent study led by Pastor R. Couceyro, PhD, at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science and colleagues at Amgen sheds new light on the causes of drug addiction, and opens the possibility for new treatments in the future. These researchers have identified a brain neurotransmitter that is important for the pleasurable, and possibly addictive, effects of stimulant drugs like methamphetamine.
A second, small-scale clinical trial of a proposed addiction treatment originally investigated at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory has produced favorable results in the treatment of long-term addiction to methamphetamine and/or cocaine, with no visual side effects in any of the 30 patients enrolled. This research on vigabatrin (a.k.a. gamma vinyl GABA, or GVG) was conducted in collaboration with doctors from the New York University (NYU) School of Medicine and the Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research at a national addiction treatment center in Mexicali, Mexico. The results are published in the February 2005 issue of Synapse, now available online.
Many opioid-dependent individuals are also dependent on cocaine. Methadone is a widely used and effective method for treating opioid dependence. However, it is not effective in treating other drugs of abuse. The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of another drug, tiagabine, for treating cocaine dependence in opioid-dependent individuals already receiving methadone treatment.
Study start: December 2004
For over 30 years, methadone has been used to treat opioid addiction. Since methadone is effective in reducing withdrawl symptoms, it is used as a method of detoxification for opiate addicts. However, methadone is not effective in treating other drugs of abuse, such as cocaine. Tiagabine is a drug that enhances levels of gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA), a chemical found in the brain and spinal cord. The objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of tiagabine in modifying cocaine-using behavior and reducing opiate withdrawl symptoms among newly admitted methadone-treated patients.
[Dopamine: not just a neurotransmitter] - Related Articles
[Dopamine: not just a neurotransmitter]
Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online). 2005 Aug 12;59:405-20
Authors: Drozak J, Bryła J
Dopamine is an important endogenous catecholamine which exerts widespread effects both in neuronal (as a neurotransmitter) and non-neuronal tissues (as an autocrine or paracrine agent). Within the central nervous system, dopamine binds to specific membrane receptors presented by neurons and it plays the key role in the control of locomotion, learning, working memory, cognition, and emotion. The brain dopamine system is involved in various neurological and psychiatric disturbances such as Parkinson's Disease, schizophrenia, and amphetamine and cocaine addiction. Thus, this system is the major target of powerful drugs applied in the treatment of neuropsychiatric diseases. Physiological functions of the brain dopamine system are well recognized. However, dopamine biosynthesis does not only occur in neurons, but also in peripheral tissues. Dopamine receptors have been described in the kidney, pancreas, lungs, and in numerous blood vessels outside the central nervous system. Renal dopamine is now recognized as an important regulator of sodium extraction and electrolyte balance, while defective renal dopamine production and/or dopamine receptor function may contribute to the development of various forms of human and animal hypertension. This article gives a brief overview of the importance of dopamine acting as a neurotransmitter and peripheral hormone. Special consideration is given to: (i) biochemical disturbances occurring in both brain and kidneys in various diseases and (ii) current therapy correcting disturbances in dopamine systems.
International behavioral neuroscience society - ninth annual meeting. - Related Articles
International behavioral neuroscience society - ninth annual meeting.
IDrugs. 2000 Jul;3(7):743-4
Authors: Agmo A
The main thrust of the meeting was, as always, basic research in behavioral neuroscience defined in a broad sense. Learning and memory, feeding and drinking, reward mechanisms, development of the CNS, anxiety and stress were the main topics covered. In a public lecture associated with the meeting, Larry Reid (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA) reviewed the quite compelling evidence in favor of the effectiveness of naltrexone for preventing relapse in former alcoholics. He also presented preclinical data demonstrating the remarkable effects of naltrexone given together with isradipine (Novartis AG) in blocking the rewarding effects of cocaethylene. This combination of drugs could thereby constitute a treatment for alcoholism complicated by cocaine abuse. Of potential therapeutic interest was also the description of the preclinical pharmacology and a phase II trial of a new cholinesterase inhibitor, methanesulfonyl fluoride (University of Texas). The possible physiological functions of sigma opioid receptors and the pharmacological properties of sigma receptor ligands were discussed at one of the symposia. Among the subjects covered were the potential use of sigma1 antagonists in the treatment of cocaine addiction and the efficiency of sigma1 agonists for preventing the decline in cognitive functions associated with old age.
Modafinil -- a wake-promoting drug used to treat narcolepsy -- may be an effective treatment for cocaine dependence, suggests a University of Pennsylvania Medical Center study.
Researchers found modafinil promoted cocaine abstinence among 30 cocaine-dependent patients seeking treatment. There were no serious side effects among the patients treated with the drug. The study appears in the January issue of the Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology.
A previous study by the same researchers found that modafinil blunted cocaine-induced euphoria.
"If confirmed by further investigation, this could be the breakthrough we have been waiting for," principal investigator Dr. Charles Dackis, chief of psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, said in a prepared statement.
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