If only there were a PILL that would cure addiction... Thanks nickcarraway.
Posted on 04/10/2020 10:20:42 PM PDT by nickcarraway
A new study conducted in rats shows that animals ignore social contact in favor of highly addictive opioid drugs. Researchers went on to show that this drug-seeking behavior could be reversed by stimulating a region of the brain.
Researchers in the Arizona State University Department of Psychology previously used an animal model of opioid addiction and empathy to show that animals stopped prosocial behaviors - helping another animal - when heroin was available. The same research group has now shown that activating the anterior insula restored prosocial behaviors in opioid-addicted animals. The study will be published in Social Neuroscience and is now available online.
"As a master's student, I led support groups for opioid addicts, and the biggest problems people wanted help dealing with were social. Our finding in an animal model of opioid addiction that chemogenetic activation of the anterior insula restores prosocial behavior suggests a glimmer of hope that some of the social behavioral deficits in opioid addiction are not permanent," said Seven Tomek, who just defended her doctoral dissertation at ASU. Tomek is first author on the paper and received training in substance abuse treatment while earning her master's in clinical psychology from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington.
To measure prosocial behavior, the researchers trained animals to free another animal that was trapped in a clear plastic tube. The animals had access to heroin for two weeks and then were given the choice of consuming heroin or helping another animal. Like before, the animals again chose heroin over helping another.
To try and restore the prosocial behaviors in the animals, the research team targeted a brain region involved in both prosocial behaviors like helping and addictive behaviors like craving: the anterior insula.
"We designed our animal study based on work in people showing that damage in the anterior insula area - from a stroke for example - was correlated with easily quitting cigarette smoking," Tomek said. "This brain area is also important for motivation and emotions in people."
The insula is nicknamed the "hidden lobe" because it is tucked underneath the brain's frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. This location makes access difficult, so the research team used chemogenetic methods - called Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated by Designer Drugs, or DREADDs for short - to selectively activate the anterior insula in the animals. Using DREADDs is like installing a smart lock on specific neurons, and then only granting access the lock when scientists want to activate the neurons. The DREADD method inserts mutant receptors into neurons, and those receptors can only be activated by a chemical that is not naturally present in the body.
"Once we activated the excitatory DREADD in the anterior insula, the animals started rescuing the trapped animals again," Tomek said.
The research team tested the role of anterior insula activation twice. In the first experiment, the animals who underwent DREADD activation helped other animals 67% of the time when heroin was available. The control group only helped other animals 17% of the time. In the second experiment, activation of the anterior insula was again associated with helping other animals 67% of the time. The second control group helped other animals 44% of the time.
"This work demonstrates an important role for the anterior insula in opioid addiction and shows the possibilities of changing a social behavior that has been compromised by drug use," said Foster Olive, professor of psychology at ASU and senior author on the paper.
Reference: Tomek, S. E., Stegmann, G. M., Leyrer-Jackson, J. M., Piña, J., & Olive, M. F. (2020). Restoration of prosocial behavior in rats after heroin self-administration via chemogenetic activation of the anterior insular cortex. Social Neuroscience, 0(0), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/17470919.2020.1746394
This article has been republished from materials provided by Arizona State University. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
Ugh, druggies. Care for no one no child except their drugs. The cool kids aint cool at all, bunch of jerks with feelings only for their drugs.
As far a I know, opioid addicts don’t have a brain to stimulate.
I thoughts the Rats were Dems until I read more.
The initial reading, certainly the title, seems to be able to apply to Dems quite well.
Thank goodness it’s not another Andrew Gillum thread.
I have a family member addicted to meth, which is worse than heroin. It literally changes the brain, and is exceedingly difficult to kick. It takes at least 2 years of sobriety to reset the brain and rid oneself of the addiction. It is horrible. There are no programs that put a person in a situation in which they are unable to get the drug for 2 years. Even if put in jail, we all know that in jails and prisons, inmates have no problem getting drugs. The guards bring them in, or look the other way if visitors bring them in. And now, most States don’t even arrest drug users, anyway. Anyone who thinks drugs should be legalized, has not experienced the heartache of watching a loved one destroy himself with dope. It is horrible. Pray without ceasing.
Oh, come on FR buddies. We must propose some sort of study to get lots of Federal money for studying the obvious. It is really low hanging fruit.
If only there were a PILL that would cure addiction... Thanks nickcarraway.
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