New Scientific Evidence Emerges on How Individuals Transition From Recreational to Compulsive Use of Drugs
Specifically, the nucleus accumbens is a region of the brain's reward circuitry that integrates midbrain inputs of dopamine -- a neurotransmitter that affects many aspects of behavior, including how we experience pleasure – to shape reward- and motivation-related behaviors. Within this construct, researchers in the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and the Friedman Brain Institute at Icahn Mount Sinai learned that RXRα positively correlated with addiction-relevant behavioral features in laboratory rodents -- a finding that makes the molecule a strong mechanistic candidate to link individual vulnerability to cocaine addiction. Fundamental to the study was RNA sequencing on six regions of the rodent's brain reward circuitry after cocaine self-administration, withdrawal, and relapse in mice.
- Fundamental to the study was RNA sequencing on six regions of the rodent's brain reward circuitry after cocaine self-administration, withdrawal, and relapse in mice.
- The discovery not only paves the way for future research on the novel signaling pathway, but on preventive strategies for drug addiction targeting RXRα.
- The Mount Sinai team showed that inhibition of the molecule using a systemically administered RXRα antagonist reduced cocaine-induced associative learning with tolerable side effects.
- Scientists were particularly intrigued and encouraged by the fact that a single molecule could have such a profound effect on modulating complex behaviors related to drug addiction.