Posted on 01/25/2007 1:21:07 PM PST by trumandogz
WASHINGTON - Damage to a silver dollar-sized spot deep in the brain seems to wipe out the urge to smoke, a surprising discovery that may shed important new light on addiction.
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The research was inspired by a stroke survivor who claimed he simply forgot his two-pack-a-day addiction _ no cravings, no nicotine patches, not even a conscious desire to quit.
"The quitting is like a light switch that went off," said Dr. Antoine Bechara of the University of Southern California, who scanned the brains of 69 smokers and ex-smokers to pinpoint the region involved. "This is very striking."
Clearly brain damage isn't a treatment option for people struggling to kick the habit.
But the finding, reported in Friday's edition of the journal Science, does point scientists toward new ways to develop anti-smoking aids by targeting this little-known brain region called the insula. And it sparked excitement among addiction specialists who expect the insula to play a key role in other addictions, too.
"It's a fantastic paper, it's a fantastic finding," said Dr. Nora Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and a longtime investigator of the brain's addiction pathways.
"What this study shows unequivocally is the insula is a key structure in the brain for perceiving the urges to take the drug," urges that are "the backbone of the addiction," Volkow added.
Why? The insula appears to be where the brain turns physical reactions into feelings, such as feeling anxious when your heart speeds up. When those reactions are caused by a particular substance, the insula may act like sort of a headquarters for cravings.
Some 44 million Americans smoke, and the government says more than 400,000 a year die of smoking-related illnesses. Declines in smoking have slowed in recent years, making it unlikely that the nation will reach a public health goal of reducing the rate to 12 percent by 2010.
Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances known, and it's common for smokers to suffer repeated relapses when they try to quit.
So imagine Bechara's surprise at hearing a patient he code-named "Nathan" note nonchalantly that "my body forgot the urge to smoke" right after his stroke.
At the time, Bechara was at the University of Iowa studying the effects of certain types of brain damage after strokes or other injury. While Nathan was hospitalized, stroke specialists sent his information to that brain registry. He was 38, had smoked since 14, said he enjoyed it and had had no intention to quit. But his last puff was the night before his stroke. His surprised wife said he never even asked for a smoke while in the hospital.
It's not unusual for a health scare to prompt an attempt at quitting. "That's the quitting that's not as interesting," Bechara said.
Instead, Nathan experienced what Bechara calls a "disruption of smoking addiction," and he wanted to know why.
Bechara and colleagues culled their brain-damage registry for 69 patients who had smoked regularly before their injuries. Nineteen, including Nathan, had damage to the insula. Thirteen of the insula-damaged patients had quit smoking, 12 of them super-easily: They quit within a day of the brain injury, and reported neither smoking nor even feeling the urge since then.
Of the remaining 50 patients with damage in other brain regions, 19 quit smoking but only four met the broken-addiction criteria.
If Bechara's findings are validated, they suggest that developing drugs that target the insula might help smokers quit. There are nicotine receptors in the insula, meaning it should be possible to create a nicotine-specific drug, Bechara said _ albeit years from now.
More immediately, NIDA's Volkow wants to try a different experiment: Scientists can temporarily alter function of certain brain regions with pulses of magnetic energy, called "transcranial magnetic stimulation." She wants to see if it's possible to focus such magnetic pulses on the insula, and thus verify its role.
Other neurologic functions are known to be involved with addiction, too, such as the brain's "reward" or pleasure pathways. The insula discovery doesn't contradict that work, but adds another layer to how addiction grips the brain, Bechara said.
heart bypass surgery cured me of smoking
LOL!
Sorry, I suffer from Dain Bramage. And it's his fault!
When I was hospitalized back in October the only ones surprised I wasn't interested in a smoke were the nurses who were trying to force a patch on me. A patch I repeatedly refused.
>>>That sounds a lot like the spot in my brain that stops me from habitually paying money for something that, when used as directed, will kill me.
You have a spot that keeps you from paying taxes?????
/teasing
This invites the old saying "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me, than a frontal lobotomy"
>>>So California will have a state imposed mandatory dame bramage law for smokers someday?
Yes.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1574836/posts
The UN Plan for Your Mental Health (UNESCO)
The ADA is far too weak. Insurance companies will refuse to treat smoking as a disease unless and until we pass the 28th Amendment. Lobby your Congresscritters today!
may
BTW, thanks for the ping. This thread will be entertaining... :-)
That's absolutely right and proper.
They should just sentence all smokers to have that spot burned out with a red hot poker.
yeah.
Idiocy is only skin deep!
Well, since the brain surgery is so complicated, the Imperial Federal Government will require them to stay in large camps (the numbers of smokers make hospitals impractical) for long term supervision. There they will be kept track of using radio frequency collars.
People that use "brain surgeon" as a reference to being brilliant....I've never understood that.
These are folks that, as this article admits, have NO IDEA how the brain works or why.
It's as if an engineer said that it was suspected that certain of the black spots on the green "fiberglass-copper-cortex" of a computer were suspected of memory functions, and some were likely designed to create autonomic Microsoft Bluescreen functions.
What a bunch of charlatan witch doctors!
But that's OK as they will follow the brain surgeon manual which clearly states to shock it and drug it anyway. I mean really, what could go wrong?
The Government will require stores to have Special Parking spaces for smokers.
However, instead of these spaces being right next to the front door of Wal-Mart, the parking spaces for smokers will be way at the back of the parking lot, so that smokers can get a little exercise during their long walk.
Well, plus given that smoking is banned indoors, they can use the stroll to get a nicotine fix.
Wonder if this would work on those politicians who are addicted to raising taxes?
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