An interesting new study published in Science used deep brain stimulation (DBS), a technique approved for treatment of some psychiatric disorders but with an unknown therapeutic mechanism, to reverse cocaine-induced changes of the reward circuitry in the mouse brain. Using a combination of optogenetics, electrophysiology, and pharmacology, the authors were able to improve DBS in order to eliminate the behavioral sensitization to cocaine in mice. A well known neurobiological change induced by by cocaine is a strengthening of excitatory neuronal inputs into the Nucleus Accumbens, a brain region at the core of the reward pathway. The authors showed that the DBS was able to reverse the cocaine-induced changes in the neural circuitry of the Nucleus Accumbens and this is the most likely mechanism for the effectiveness of DBS in reversing the behavioral changes caused by cocaine. The study suggests that DBS may represent a potential therapy for reversing addiction to cocaine.
You can find the link to the full paper here.
Apologies for not being able to share the pdf but I requested permission and will hopefully be able to upload it soon!
