Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:00:4
Ayinde O. Chase - AHN Editor
Uptown, NY (AHN) - When asked to inhibit their response to a "cocaine-cues" video, active cocaine abusers were, on average, able to suppress activity in brain regions linked to drug craving, according to a new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory.
The results suggest that clinical interventions designed to strengthen these inhibitory responses could help cocaine abusers stop using drugs and avoid relapse.
"Exposure to drugs or stimuli associated with using drugs is one of the most common factors leading to relapse in drug-addicted individuals," says Nora Volkow, Director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse and lead author on the paper.
"We know from previous studies that drug cues can trigger dramatic changes in the brain that are linked to a strong craving response," adds co-author Gene-Jack Wang, Chair of Brookhaven's medical department. "This study provides the first evidence that cocaine abusers retain some ability to cognitively inhibit their craving responses to drug-related cues."
The researchers believe findings provide enormous hope because they suggest that cognitive interventions might be developed to maximize cocaine abusers' success in blocking the drug-craving response to help them avoid relapse."
The scientists also reviewed the research subjects' heart rate and blood pressure and asked them to describe their level of craving during the scans. When the scans were compared with the baseline condition, the cocaine-cues video triggered increases in brain activity in several brain regions associated with drug craving, as well as increases in research subjects' self-reports of craving.
Further tests showed metabolic activity decreased dramatically in brain regions involved in experiencing and anticipating rewards, and in a part of the brain that plays a role in assigning value, or salience, to different stimuli. During inhibition, research subjects also reported lower levels of craving compared with the no-inhibition video condition.
The researchers say the findings have significant clinical implications. Most current drug treatment programs help addicted individuals predict when and where they might be exposed to drug cues so that they can avoid such situations.
Volkow says, "While this is a very useful strategy, in real-world situations, cues may come up in unexpected ways. Our findings suggest that a clinical strategy that trains cocaine abusers to exert greater cognitive control could help them selectively inhibit the craving response whenever and wherever drug cues are encountered - whether expectedly or unexpectedly."
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