NIH grant will enable development of drug addiction treatments

Categories

Addiction Treatment
Alcohol
Drugs
Gambling
In the papers
On TV

News Archive

Home » News » Drugs » NIH grant will enable development of drug addiction treatments

by Change | 5 Aug 2010

Bookmark

E-mail

An NIH grant will enable a pair of Florida scientists to develop new drug addiction treatments.

Scientists in Florida will be able to develop new drug addiction treatments after receiving a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Patrticia McDonald and Theodore Kamenecka, who are based at The Scripps Research Institute, have received $2.3 million of funding ahead of their investigation into new methods of drug addiction intervention.

The pair are co-principal investigators on the National Institute on Drug Abuse's five-year project, and their research will concentrate on the identification of compounds affecting a receptor that plays a prominent role in drug addiction.

Neurotensin, which is also known as NTSR1, is able to alter levels of dopamine, a neurotransmitter, in the brain.

Dr McDonald said that, despite almost three decades of work, scientists remain largely unaware of which compounds are able to influence NTSR1.

"This new funding will help us thoroughly explore the interactions between the receptor and its signalling pathways and its impact on dopamine, which helps drive addiction and relapse," she commented.

Cocaine is one drug that affects dopamine levels. It does this by leaving more dopamine in the synapse.

Bookmark this: