Cocaine in the brain

In the recent issue of Scientific American Mind (April/May, 2008), an article discussed new remedies against cocaine addiction. The major idea is to hijack the part of the brain, ventral tegmental area (VTA), responsible for pleasure and reward. When we eat delicious food, have sex, or participate in other exciting activities, neurons in VTA will release the chemical messenger, or neurotransmitter, dopamine. Then dopamine will send its message to the recipient neurons, which results in feelings of delight, arousal, or what people nowadays would call ‘high’.

When a person uses cocaine, dopamine transporters on the endings of VTA neurons would be blocked and the reuptake of dopamine prevented, leaving dopamine to build up in the brain. When the concentration of dopamine reaches double or ten times of the ordinary amount, the neurotransmitter will keep stimulating the receiving neurons, thus producing euphoria.

In the past, researchers tried to target dopamine or its receptor to remedy drug addiction but found that there were some malignant side effects. Now scientists turn to other neurotransmitters such as glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in hopes to either satisfy addicts’ cravings or dampen reward responses in VTA. Another potential remedy is to tap the body’s immune system to target cocaine circulating in the blood. “Because the cocaine molecules are too small to provoke a strong immune response, developers link the drug to larger molecules, such as a bacterial toxin, that powerfully invigorate immune cells” (p.57) Hence some of the cells give out antibodies against the attached cocaine molecules, which is to prevent cocaine from going into the brain whenever a person takes it.

At the end of this essay, Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) said that “We can be at the mercy of drugs that inflict damage to brain tissue representing control functions.” However, I think the root of the problem lies in whether people are taught and warned of the danger from using drugs such as cocaine. Because we would likely become almost helpless in terms of kicking the habit after the uptake of cocaine or similar substances, that is why many countries have enacted laws against illegal drug use. The ripple effect of this drug is beyond many people’s imagination. We can look at the Chinese history at the end of Ching Dynasty. When a population was inflicted by opium, the entire nation was in jeopardy. If people know it is against the law and the consequence of using those drugs would lead to health damage, criminal act, let alone colossal expenses related to treatments, then whoever still does so should be held responsible for their own behavior even they will become ‘uncontrollable’ later on.

Written by JerSki BjorkSen