Study supports new strategy to fight cocaine addiction
Prior experiments targeting this receptor, known as the TrkB receptor, produced results that differed greatly according to the brain region involved. The new study is the first to test system-wide delivery -- the way drugs are typically given in humans -- of a TrkB-blocker, s howing that the overall effect is to reverse cocaine dependency. "I think this study could help revive the idea of targeting TrkB signaling to treat addiction," said TSRI biologist Candice Contet, senior author of the study. Struggle to Find Solutions Scientists have long struggled to find an effective strategy against cocaine addiction, which is estimated to affect more than two million Americans, resulting annually in about half a million emergency room visits and hundreds of thousands of rehab facility admissions. There is still no FDA-approved drug specifically for treating cocaine addiction. Addiction researchers know tha t cocaine produces a huge surge in the levels of dopamine in the ...