new dimension in drug addiction therapy

New Dimension in Drug Addiction Therapy

Drug Addiction From Basic Research to Therapy

Drugs of abuse share the ability to enhance dopaminergic neurotransmission in the dorsal and ventral striatum. The action of dopamine is modulated by additional neurotransmitters, including glutamate, serotonin and adenosine. All these neurotransmitters regulate the phosphorylation state of Dopaminal serine/ threonine protein phosphatase, PP-1. Phosphorylatineand cAMP-regulated phosphoprotein, ...

The new drug crisis; addiction by prescription.

It's not easy to find a mother who would look back fondly on the time her son had cancer. But Penny (not her real name) does. Penny lives in Boston, and her son got sick when he was just 13. He struggled with the disease for several years — through the battery of tests and the horror of the diagnosis and, worst of all, through the pain that came from the treatment. For that last one, at least, ...

Neuroimaging in Drug Addiction

Drug addiction is clinically defined in behavioral terms. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual-IV of the American Psychiatric Association defines “substance dependence” as a maladaptive pattern of substance use, leading to clinically significant impairment or distress, as manifested by three or more by the following criteria: tolerance, withdrawal, excessive use, inability to cut down, a great...

Drug addiction.

N Engl J Med 2003;349:975-86. Copyright © 2003 Massachusetts Medical Society. rug addiction is a chronic, relapsing disorder in which compulsive drug-seeking and drug-taking behavior persists despite serious negative consequences. Addictive substances induce pleasant states (euphoria in the initiation phase) or relieve distress. Continued use induces adaptive changes in the central nervous syst...

Drug addiction.

Psychogenic dependence is the common denominator of all drug habits and the primary drive which leads to initiation and relapse to chronic drug use or abuse (25). Although a pharmacologic drive is necessary it does not need to be a strong one or to produce profound subjective effects in order that habituation to the use of the crude material becomes a pattern of life. Besides tobacco, the use o...