A team of neuroscientists at the University of Wisconsin claim to have found a way to control how high mice can get on a given amount of cocaine.
And don't worry — while that may sound like a particularly frivolous plot concocted by a team of evil scientists, the goal of the research is well-meaning.
The team, led by University of Wisconsin neuroscientist Santiago Cuesta, was investigating how the gut microbiome can influence how mice and humans react to ingesting the drug.
The research, detailed in a new paper published this week in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, sheds light on a vicious feedback loop that could explain cases of substance abuse disorders — and possibly lay the groundwork for future therapeutic treatments.
In a number of experiments on mice, the researchers found that cocaine was linked to the growth of common gut bacteria, which feed on glycine, a chemical that facilitates basic brain functions.
The lower the levels of glycine in the brain, the more the mice reacted to the cocaine, exhibiting abnormal behaviors.
To test the theory, the scientists injected the mice with a genetically modified amino acid which cannot break down glycine. As a result, the behavior of mice returned to normal levels.
In other words, the amino acid could curb cocaine addiction-like behaviors — at least in animal models.
"The gut bacteria are consuming all of the glycine and the levels are decreasing systemically and in the brain," said Vanessa Sperandio, senior author, and microbiologist from the University of Wisconsin, in a statement. "It seems changing glycine overall is impacting the glutamatergic synapses that make the animals more prone to develop addiction."
It's an unorthodox approach to treating addiction, but could be intriguing — if it works in people, that is.
"Usually, for neuroscience behaviors, people are not thinking about controlling the microbiota, and microbiota studies usually don't measure behaviors, but here we show they’re connected," Cuesta added. "Our microbiome can actually modulate psychiatric or brain-related behaviors."
In short, their research could lead to new ways of treating various psychiatric disorders such as substance use by adjusting the gut microbiome and not making changes to the brain chemistry.
"I think the bridging of these communities is what's going to move the field forward, advancing beyond correlations towards causations for the different types of psychiatric disorders," Sperandio argued.
READ MORE: How gut bacteria influence the effects of cocaine in mice [Cell Press]
More on addiction: Study: Magic Mushrooms Helped 83% of People Cut Excessive Drinking
The post Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine appeared first on Futurism.
Go here to read the rest:
Scientists Found a Way to Control How High Mice Got on Cocaine
- New Microsoft Ads Take Aim at Mac Pricing - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Adobe Flash Comes to TV - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Microsoft Introduces Windows 7 Starter Edition - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Mac Viruses and Trojans Becoming More Prevalent - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Apple ‘Customer Experience’ Continues to Trounce PCs - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Seagate Introduces ‘Replica’ Drive to Backup Entire PC - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Still Love XP? Run it on Windows 7! - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- Is Microsoft Ditching Vista? - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Kindle DX: Not Exactly a Textbook Killer - November 8th, 2009 [November 8th, 2009]
- The Smart Shopper’s Guide to Buying a Wireless Router - May 19th, 2010 [May 19th, 2010]
- iTunes 10: So Long, Ringtone Creator - Thanks for the Memories - October 17th, 2010 [October 17th, 2010]
- iTunes 10: So Long, Ringtone Creator – Thanks for the Memories - February 14th, 2011 [February 14th, 2011]
- How to Make Your Laptop Last Longer - February 14th, 2011 [February 14th, 2011]
- Client Build 5 UPDATE: Personal Super Computer 2011 (SR-2 X5690 OCZ Vertex 3 GTX590 Nvidia Tesla) - Video - March 29th, 2012 [March 29th, 2012]
- Super Micro Computer, Inc. Announces 3rd Quarter 2012 Financial Results - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Super Micro Computer Q3 Profit Slips - Quick Facts - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Super Computer Maker Cray and Intel strike Partnership - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Super Micro Computer Q3 12 Earnings Conference Call At 5:00 PM ET - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Herd mentallity and the information super highway - Video - April 25th, 2012 [April 25th, 2012]
- Brain vs. Computer - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Minecraft World First - Most wanted redstone device - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- PS3 Jailbreak Tutorial 4.11 WORKING - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- China's Tianhe-1 supercomputer begins operations - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- June 2011 TOP500 Review looks at Japan's K Supercomputer - Video - May 4th, 2012 [May 4th, 2012]
- Super Vision for Soldiers - May 5th, 2012 [May 5th, 2012]
- The Super Sonic Show Episode 0-Computer Help - Video - May 7th, 2012 [May 7th, 2012]
- Why Super Micro Computer's Earnings May Be Less Than Awesome - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Magnetic bacteria may help build computer hard drives - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- SUPER WHY! Around the World Adventure Kicks off PBS KIDS Summer Learning Initiative This June - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Tutorial SUPER COMPUTER girl 3750 sylvia Vs fem game 4 (3550) - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- SUPER COMPUTER Wii best 3750 sylvia Vs learn chess 4 (3550) - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- SUPER COMPUTER girls city 3750 sylvia Vs RYBKA 4 (3550) - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- John Laban - Open University Super Computer Room - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Can A Super Computer Save Banking? Part 2 of 2 - Video - May 10th, 2012 [May 10th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches Widest Range of UP Server Platforms Supporting Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v2 - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Debuts New X9 DP and 4-Way MP Platforms - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches Widest Range of Server Platforms Supporting Intel® Xeon® E3-1200 v2 - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- Invention kit for banana pianos, alphabet soup keyboards - May 16th, 2012 [May 16th, 2012]
- A few errors could be key to super-efficient computer chips - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Highlights Latest GPU SuperServer®, SuperBlade® and ... - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Kontron HPEC Platform Chosen by Military Embedded Systems Magazine for Editor's Choice Award - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Raspberry Pi to rebirth an era of Woz-like super creativity? - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- Taste and tale of success - May 20th, 2012 [May 20th, 2012]
- 1 Reason to Expect Big Things From Super Micro Computer - May 25th, 2012 [May 25th, 2012]
- Bump's Super Popular App Just Got A Million Times Cooler With Its Latest Update - May 25th, 2012 [May 25th, 2012]
- Is The Computer 'Cloud' Compromising You Privacy? - May 26th, 2012 [May 26th, 2012]
- Super MP3 Download 4.8.2.6 - May 28th, 2012 [May 28th, 2012]
- Radiohead's Kid A and OK Computer, Now in 8-Bit - May 29th, 2012 [May 29th, 2012]
- ASUS P6T7 WS Super Computer MoBo - Video - May 29th, 2012 [May 29th, 2012]
- Photonic Super Computer 2012 - Video - May 29th, 2012 [May 29th, 2012]
- Kaspersky discovers super-complex Flame malware - May 30th, 2012 [May 30th, 2012]
- Supermicro® X9 5x GPU SuperWorkstation Delivers Maximum Performance with NVIDIA Maximus Certification - May 30th, 2012 [May 30th, 2012]
- Super-virus Flame raises the cyberwar stakes - May 30th, 2012 [May 30th, 2012]
- Super-stealthy ‘Flame' computer virus spies on Iran - May 31st, 2012 [May 31st, 2012]
- Super-stealthy ‘Flame' computer virus spies on Iranians - May 31st, 2012 [May 31st, 2012]
- Was flame virus written by gamers? Code similar to apps such as Angry Birds - May 31st, 2012 [May 31st, 2012]
- Massive cyber attack on Iran came from U.S., report says - June 2nd, 2012 [June 2nd, 2012]
- Massive cyber attack on Iran came from US, report says - June 2nd, 2012 [June 2nd, 2012]
- Supermicro® Exhibits its Latest X9 Server and Storage Innovations at Computex, Taiwan - June 5th, 2012 [June 5th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Hadoop Solutions Accelerate Innovation with Launch of EMC® ... - June 5th, 2012 [June 5th, 2012]
- Super 57000 Video Game (Family Computer) - Video - June 5th, 2012 [June 5th, 2012]
- Security Cameras Turn into Super-Fast Sleuths - June 7th, 2012 [June 7th, 2012]
- Quantum computers move closer to reality, thanks to highly enriched and highly purified silicon - June 7th, 2012 [June 7th, 2012]
- Research Makes Ultrafast Quantum Computer Concept a Reality - June 9th, 2012 [June 9th, 2012]
- Supermicro's New Compact Embedded Server Appliance Supports 3rd Generation Intel® Core™ i7/i5/i3 Processors - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- The PC which is truly personal: 'Computer' on a memory stick offers COMPLETE privacy for browsing and documents - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- 'Purified' silicon nudges quantum computing ahead - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- Apple serves up 15.4-inch MacBook Pro with Retina Display - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- Apple debuts next-gen MacBook Pro, iOS 6 - June 11th, 2012 [June 11th, 2012]
- How to Invest Like the Super-Rich - June 13th, 2012 [June 13th, 2012]
- Super Computer for Sale - Video - June 13th, 2012 [June 13th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches FatTwin™ Architecture - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Computer Workstation utilizes NVIDIA® Maximus(TM) technology. - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Supermicro® Launches FatTwinâ„¢ Architecture - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Acer: Aspire S5, super-thin Ultrabook, coming to U.S. in late June - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Supermicro(R) Launches FatTwin(TM) Architecture - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- Sheldon Adelson: 7 surprising facts about 2012's biggest donor - June 15th, 2012 [June 15th, 2012]
- lego super computer - Video - June 17th, 2012 [June 17th, 2012]
- Age of Empires: The Conqurors - vsing Duke AI 1.6 - Super computer - Video - June 17th, 2012 [June 17th, 2012]
- Supermicro® FatTwin™ Takes Center Stage at International Supercomputing Conference 2012 - June 18th, 2012 [June 18th, 2012]