Research has shown that drugs, such as cocaine, affect the microbial composition of the gut, and that these bugs, in turn, influence how animals respond to these substances. There is, however, little understanding of how this interaction works. A mouse study published today (November 1) in Cell Host & Microbe uncovers some of the mechanisms that appear to explain the phenomenon. In it, researchers report that increased gut epinephrine levels, caused by cocaine exposure, promote the virulence of certain bacterial species. These microbes eat up the amino acid glycine, exacerbating cocaine’s effects on mice and their addiction-like behaviors.
Although previous studies “have shed data describing potential mechanisms of action altering the reward response to drugs, . . . we could say that to date there are no studies that have dissected the mechanism of action in such depth as the present study,” writes Rubén García-Cabrerizo, a neuroscientist at the APC ...
