Deep-brain zap for addiction

NATURE | RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

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NEUROSCIENCE

An electric current sent deep into the brain, together with a therapeutic drug, can reverse the symptoms of cocaine addiction in mice.

Christian Lüscher at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and his colleagues implanted an electrode into the brains of cocaine-addicted mice. Stimulating the animals' neurons at a low frequency only temporarily relieved symptoms of addiction after the mice were injected with cocaine. But when the researchers also gave the animals a drug that blocks receptors for the neurotransmitter dopamine — involved in addiction and reward — the symptoms abated for longer. Neural connections that were overactive because of cocaine exposure also functioned normally again.

The researchers say that this approach could be a potential therapy for humans with addiction and other neural disorders.

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