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.
Me too. Being sprawled, nekkid, in a hospital bed with a zipper from collar bone to tummy with tubes sticking out in all directions sure cuts your desire for a smoke...
I had my brain removed so I wouldn't smoke.
"Smoking is now a disability..."
If alcoholism is a disease, why isn't smoking?
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.
"If alcoholism is a disease, why isn't smoking?"
Gosh...I never thought about that. I smoke...so...can I collect free money from somewhere? I already seem to be the only stooge who doesn't have a government handout card to present at the grocery store.
>>>I had my brain removed so I wouldn't smoke.
Now THAT is problem solving!
Bet this could be used to control the population, what do you think?
Well, judging from the quality of posters on most tobacco-related threads on FR, removal of the brain neither inhibits smoking nor prevents one from posting on the internet.
I was thinking the same thing ping.....
"If alcoholism is a disease, why isn't smoking?"
And now, both will demand 'special rights.'
How interesting. So her smoking caused the aneurysm which caused her to forget she smoked.
The same spot in my brain stops me from paying voluntary taxes.
So sorry to hear what happened to your mother.
My MIL is in a nursing home after surgery - extreme dimensia set in immediately after surgery/drugs administered.
BTW - she never smoked.
And yes, what a convenient way to control the population.
I Betcha' there will be a 'pill for that' in the near future.
Advertised in the News Hour right along with all the other pills Pharma is pushing into our gullets every day.
No thanks....
Nor does it inhibit some people from advocating absolute control of others' small legal pleasures.
Really? Now who would you say is doing that?
City, county, state, and soon federal legislators across this country; acting upon disinformation from a core group of well-funded kooks.
Failing that, they take it to the mob.
A cigarette after sex, you say? What's sex?
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