Researchers reverse cocaine effects in mice: study

By Michael Kahn

LONDON (Reuters) - Researchers working with laboratory mice have found a way to reverse the effects of cocaine on the brain, according to a study published on Thursday that could lead to better treatments for drug addicts.

The researchers focused on the part of the brain they knew was involved with pleasure and addictive drugs and found a way to repress hyperactive cells charged up by cocaine.

Scientists have long studied what parts of the brain are affected by cocaine but this study is the first to identify the mechanism needed to reverse the effects of cocaine, said Christian Luscher, the Swiss researcher who led the study.

"This is the piece of the puzzle that was not known before -- the mechanism a cell uses to get back to normal," he said in a telephone interview.

The study, published in the journal Science, builds on Luscher's earlier research that identified the part of the brain where cells became excited after cocaine use.

The goal this time was to figure a way to reverse the impact of cocaine on receptors in the brain, said Luscher, a neuroscientist at the University of Geneva.

Receptors are the proteins responsible for transferring all information in the brain and which eventually produce feelings of satisfaction and pleasure and play a key role in addiction, Luscher said.

In the study, the team targeted the receptors that go into overdrive after cocaine use. They found in order to correct the imbalance brought on by cocaine they needed to replace the affected receptors with new ones.