impulsive?
Some personality traits predispose rats to cocaine
Visuals Unlimited / Corbis. (Inset) Jupiter Images
Call the debate of the chicken and the egg of the world of drug addiction: Cocaine addicts are known to be frantic, but came first , behavior or habit? New research indicates that, at least in rats, it is the behavior that is addictive. In addition, the study demonstrated the character trait - impulsivity - which is responsible for developing an addiction to drugs. Experts believe that the findings could lead to new approaches for the treatment of addiction
Scientists studying addiction have a common problem :. The people they deal with are already addicted, so it's hard to say what, if any, behaviors led to the initial variation. What they do know is that two traits - impulsivity and thrill - tend to define most addicts. Although behaviors are similar, the scientists were able to analyze in the laboratory: highly impulsive rats jumping the gun on simple tasks - pushing a button, for example, before they are reported to do so; thrills rats, meanwhile, will quickly discover new environment - immediately sniff various objects in a new cage, for example - while normal rats would wait until they feel comfortable in their environment
hoping to. find out if one of these two traits can be a catalyst for addiction, psychologists David Belin and Barry Everitt, both from the University of Cambridge in the UK, hanging rats sensation and impulsive rats with a device which distributed cocaine directly into the brains of rats. The rats could control the machine, so they can make cocaine when they wanted. As reports of the team in today's edition of Science , the thrill seekers have tried cocaine immediately, taking exorbitant doses. Impulsive rats are not as quick to turn to drugs, however, and when they did, they took it in smaller quantities.
After 40 days of free access to cocaine, but impulsive rats were those who have become drug addicts. They were unable to stop taking cocaine, even if it meant getting an electric shock, the team reports. The thrill seekers, meanwhile, had lost interest in drugs; Apparently, the thrill was gone.
"This study shows that ... there is a biological bridge, at least in rats," between impulsive behavior and drug abuse, said David Nutt, a psychopharmacologist at Bristol University in the UK -um Marc Potenza, a psychiatrist at Yale University, believes the research has important implications for the treatment of drug dependence. "We might be able to identify individuals in the early moments of their lives that may be prone to developing addictions," he said. Everitt agrees, noting that anti-impulsive drugs, as some antidepressants, may be the key to helping people to stay off cocaine for good. "This has opened a surprising therapeutic window," he said.
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