Addiction Rehab: Cocaine Withdrawal Causes Delayed Dysregulation of Stress Genes in the Hippocampus.

Cocaine withdrawal causes delayed dysregulation of stress genes in the hippocampus.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

PLoS One. 2012; 7(7): e42092
García-Fuster MJ, Flagel SB, Mahmood ST, Watson SJ, Akil H

Relapse, even following an extended period of withdrawal, is a major challenge in substance abuse management. Delayed neurobiological effects of the drug during prolonged withdrawal likely contribute to sustained vulnerability to relapse. Stress is a major trigger of relapse, and the hippocampus regulates the magnitude and duration of stress responses. Recent work has implicated hippocampal plasticity in various aspects of substance abuse. We asked whether changes in stress regulatory mechanisms in the hippocampus may participate in the neuroadaptations that occur during prolonged withdrawal. We therefore examined changes in the rat stress system during the course of withdrawal from extended daily access (5-hours) of cocaine self-administration, an animal model of addiction. Tissue was collected at 1, 14 and 28 days of withdrawal. Plasma corticosterone levels were determined and corticosteroid receptors (GR, MR, MR/GR mRNA ratios) and expression of other stress-related molecules (HSP90AA1 and HSP90AB1 mRNA) were measured in hippocampal subfields using in situ hybridization. Results showed a delayed emergence of dysregulation of stress genes in the posterior hippocampus following 28 days of cocaine withdrawal. This included increased GR mRNA in DG and CA3, increased MR and HSP90AA1 mRNA in DG, and decreased MR/GR mRNA ratio in DG and CA1. Corticosterone levels progressively decreased during the course of withdrawal, were normalized following 28 days of withdrawal, and were correlated negatively with GR and positively with MR/GR mRNA ratio in DG. These results suggest a role for the posterior hippocampus in the neuroadaptations that occur during prolonged withdrawal, and point to a signaling partner of GR, HSP90AA1, as a novel dysregulated target during cocaine withdrawal. These delayed neurobiological effects of extended cocaine exposure likely contribute to sustained vulnerability to relapse.
HubMed – addiction

 

Humanized c-Myc Mouse.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

PLoS One. 2012; 7(7): e42021
Lehmann FM, Feicht S, Helm F, Maurberger A, Ladinig C, Zimber-Strobl U, Kühn R, Mautner J, Gerbitz A, Bornkamm GW

A given tumor is usually dependent on the oncogene that is activated in the respective tumor entity. This phenomenon called oncogene addiction provides the rationale for attempts to target oncogene products in a therapeutic manner, be it by small molecules, by small interfering RNAs (siRNA) or by antigen-specific T cells. As the proto-oncogene product is required also for the function of normal cells, this raises the question whether there is a therapeutic window between the adverse effects of specific inhibitors or T cells to normal tissue that may limit their application, and their beneficial tumor-specific therapeutic action. To address this crucial question, suitable mouse strains need to be developed, that enable expression of the human proto-oncogene not only in tumor but also in normal cells. The aim of this work is to provide such a mouse strain for the human proto-oncogene product c-MYC.We generated C57BL/6-derived embryonic stem cells that are transgenic for a humanized c-Myc gene and established a mouse strain (hc-Myc) that expresses human c-MYC instead of the murine ortholog. These transgenic animals harbor the humanized c-Myc gene integrated into the endogenous murine c-Myc locus. Despite the lack of the endogenous murine c-Myc gene, homozygous mice show a normal phenotype indicating that human c-MYC can replace its murine ortholog.The newly established hc-Myc mouse strain provides a model system to study in detail the adverse effects of therapies that target the human c-MYC protein. To mimic the clinical situation, hc-Myc mice may be cross-bred to mice that develop tumors due to overexpression of human c-MYC. With these double transgenic mice it will be possible to study simultaneously the therapeutic efficiency and adverse side effects of MYC-specific therapies in the same mouse.
HubMed – addiction

 

Chinese addiction study and human rights–response.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Science. 2012 Aug 3; 337(6094): 523
Wu P, Xue Y, Luo Y, Shi H, Zhu W, Bao Y, Shi J, Lu L

HubMed – addiction

 

Chinese addiction study and human rights.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Science. 2012 Aug 3; 337(6094): 522-3
Amon JJ

HubMed – addiction

 


 

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