NIDA Notes Articles: Featured Articles

NIDA Notes
Share
NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Animal Research Advances Effort to Develop Vaccines Against Cocaine, Heroin Abuse

September 2012
New vaccines aim to promote recovery from cocaine and heroin abuse showed promise in animal testing. Both vaccines induced rats’ immune system to produce high titers of antibodies that inhibit the target drug from reaching the brain. The rats’ behaviors when given access to the target drug indicated that the vaccines reduced the reinforcing effects that, in recovering people, can cause lapses to turn into relapses.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Potential Pain Medication Targets Peripheral Nerves

September 2012
Researchers report a significant advance in the search for medications that can suppress pain that currently requires opioids, but avoid opioids’ abuse potential and other undesirable CNS effects. A new compound reduces mouse responses in animal models of neurogenic and chronic inflammatory (e.g., arthritic) pain. The compound, called UB937, enhances the natural pain-killing activity of the neurotransmitter anandamide, and exerts its analgesic effects entirely in peripheral tissues, without entering the brain.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Buprenorphine During Pregnancy Reduces Neonate Distress

July 2012
Sublingual buprenorphine is a safe and effective alternative to methadone for treating opioid dependence during pregnancy, finds the Maternal Opioid Treatment: Human Experimental Research (MOTHER) study, a NIDA-supported clinical trial. Women who received either medication had similar pregnancy and birth outcomes, but infants born to women who received buprenorphine had milder symptoms of neonatal opioid withdrawal.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Cognitive Strategy Reduces Craving by Altering Brain Activity

April 2012
While viewing images of cigarettes, smokers reported milder cravings when they shifted their focus from the pleasures of smoking to its harmful effects. Brain imaging showed a correlation between the reductions in craving and altered activity levels in regions associated with emotional regulation and reward.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Well-Known Mechanism Underlies Benzodiazepines' Addictive Properties

April 2012
New research establishes that benzodiazepines cause addiction in a way similar to that of opioids, cannabinoids, and the club drug GHB. The discovery opens the door to designing new benzodiazepines that counteract anxiety but are not addictive.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Physical Activity Reduces Return to Cocaine Seeking in Animal Tests

April 2012
Two independent animal studies suggest that aerobic exercise might help cocaine abusers establish and maintain abstinence.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Home Visits by Nurses to Low-Income First-Time Mothers Yield Enduring Benefits

April 2012
A program involving home visits by nurses to low-income first-time mothers, starting during pregnancy and extending into the second year of their children’s lives, has a positive and long-lasting impact on families. Children who participated in the program were less likely than others to report having used alcohol, cigarettes, or marijuana at age 12.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

In Animals, Receptor Puts Brakes on Nicotine Consumption

March 2012
New research suggests that differences in tobacco consumption reflect, in part, differences in the functional efficacy of a specific type of receptor in a pathway of the brain. In animal studies, nicotinic acetylcholine receptors with the α5 subunit played a key role in producing aversive responses to nicotine, thereby dissuading further consumption of the drug.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Individual Differences in Decisionmaking Style May Predict Teen Problems

December 2011
Reports on the relative influence of genes versus environment on adolescents’ choices that involve delayed gratification.

NIDA Notes Category Graphic

Stimulant Abusers' Regard for Future Improves With Memory Training

December 2011
Researchers correlate stimulant abusers’ improved performance on a memory training exerc ise with reductions in delay discounting.

Mobile Site