FLICKR, NIGHTLIFE OF REVELRY
Thanks to the power of optogenetics, researchers in Switzerland have not only established the first causal link between cocaine-induced changes to brain cells and altered physical behavior, they have also reversed these changes. The report appears today (December 8th) in Nature.
The results are “pretty exciting,” said Mark Thomas of the University of Minnesota, who was not involved in the research. “It is a proof of principal of that reversing synaptic plasticity induced by drug experience can change behavior. From that perspective it is a big step forward.”
Just like humans, mice taking cocaine become more physically active and jittery and, with repeated doses, that jitteriness increases—a phenomenon called locomotor sensitization. “The presence of this sensitization shows that the first few doses of drugs cause ...
