How Cocaine Cues Get Planted in the Brain

Individuals suffering from substance use disorders develop strong associations between the drug’s stimulating effect and environmental cues that act as reminders of the experience, which can lead to relapse.

A recent study has proposed a mechanism behind drug seeking, addiction and relapse involving epigenetics. Epigenetics can be described as circumstances occurring in the environment that cause certain genes, the instructions made up of DNA that control the cells within our body, to be switched on or off. 

Dr Makoto Taniguchi and Christopher Cowan from the Medical University of South Carolina and Harvard Medical School have discovered that cocaine blocks a particular gene regulator, thats job is to enter cells and stop them from reinforcing the association between the rewarding experience of drug taking and triggers in the environment. As a result, without the gene regulator having control over the extent that the environment/drug link is maintained, the memory and cues continue to be reinforced and strengthened.

The researchers believe this mechanism may be instrumental in all learning that involves linking drug reward experiences and their associated circumstances in memory. By gaining an understanding of how drugs, like cocaine, influence our biological mechanisms, we can use the information to guide the development of new treatment for substance use disorders.