Read about Drug Addition, New Synthetic Pain Reliever, and Rats on Ecstasy

Format: Newsletter
Institute: National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)

The disease of drug addiction, a new synthetic pain reliever, and how rats fare on ecstasy are all topics covered in a free newsletter for the public, NIDA Notes, produced by NIDA.

The interactions of genes, proteins, brain cells, brain circuits and pathways, and behavior are all factors behind the complex brain disease that is generally called addiction. NIDA has launched an initiative, the Brain, Behavior, and Health Initiative to support research into the integrated roles of all these factors behind addiction. NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow, M.D., notes that we cannot fully understand the brain by looking at its parts in isolation. This health initiative provides the structure and strategy necessary to develop a comprehensive picture of the biological and environmental factors that interact and lead to drug abuse, dependence, and addiction. The initiative is described in NIDA Notes.

Readers can also learn about a new synthetic compound that may be as effective as opioids for treating pain resulting from injury to nerves. The compound, tested in rats, acts on cannabinoid receptors, but does not cause typical side effects such as nausea, sedation, or depression that are associated with other pain-relieving cannabinoids.

Another article covers the benefit to high school students of a biology and chemistry curriculum that teaches scientific concepts using drugs as examples. NIDA Notes also features a new tool for evaluating a child’s neurobehavioral disinhibition—a suite of emotional, behavioral, and cognitive characteristics—and how this can predict the child’s vulnerability to substance abuse later in life. The publication also describes a study on rats exposed to the drug MDMA (an acronym for its chemical name, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, known as Ecstasy) and how they showed significant behavioral and neurochemical deficits compared with unexposed rats.

Next Steps
To view NIDA Notes, Volume 19, Number 2, online or sign up for an e-mail or print-version subscription, visit www.drugabuse.gov/NIDA_Notes/NNIndex.html. For other information, contact NIDA Notes Editor David Anderson at (301) 594-6149 or at danders1@mail.nih.gov.