New research tracks effects of addictive drugs on brain

Medicine & Health / Research

Mount Sinai researchers may have unlocked the key to better understanding the effect addictive drugs have on the human brain. Researchers have just published the new breakthrough study, “Design Logic of a Cannabinoid Receptor Signaling Network that Triggers Neurite Outgrowth,” in the latest issue of Science on May 16th, 2008.

“The research findings give us a new window into the brain, helping us to better understand the role addictive drugs have on the inner workings of brain cells ,” said Ravi Iyengar Ph.D., study author and Dorothy H. and Lewis Rosenstiel Professor and Chair, Department of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. “This type of research provides may clues for targets within brain cells against which drugs that block addiction may be targeted.”

Mount Sinai researchers looked at the systems biology approach in order to study molecular networks underlying addiction. The findings start to unravel the complex interactions within brain cells, which are involved in processing signals from receptors in the brain that recognize the addictive drugs.

Researchers discovered that a drug that works through the cannabinoid 1 receptor recognizing the active ingredient of marijuana activates many different transcription factors, triggering the differentiation of neurons, causing permanent changes in a person’s brain. Another result of study was the discovery of a new role of the breast cancer gene BRCA 1 in neuronal differentiation and the effects of addictive drugs upon them.

Source: The Mount Sinai Hospital

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Posted by moebiex 05/16/08 16:30

Rank: 3/5 after 1 vote

Wouldn't it be better to use an addictive drug to track the effect(s) of addictive drugs on the brain? As I understand it, there is nothing (except perhaps ideology) to suggest that marijuana is addictive. As for this study's findings, would it not also be reasonable to expect the same sort of effect on the brain (ie. neuronal differentiation) from meaningful education. Taken to an extreme interpretation it would seem that this study could be used to support the hypothesis that the influence of cannabinoids actually gave rise to the development of the superior human intelligence. Its scary what effect assumptions and pre-conceptions can have even on good science.

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Posted by COCO 05/20/08 16:12

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spend more time on researching whether Bush has a brain - this type of fear mongering is not science