| Sumario: | Research conducted by Roberto Ciccocioppo and his team at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla, California, into how cues serve to trigger addictive cravings, particularly when there is no drug to be had, is discussed. Ciccocioppo taught rats to associate cocaine with a distinctive bleep and a colored light. When they pressed a lever after these cues, they were given a dose of cocaine. When the animals were addicted, the researchers cut off the cocaine supply but kept operating the cues. For days, and sometimes weeks, the rats pressed the levers in the hope of receiving cocaine. The rats were then placed in new cages and lived clean for four months. Half were then returned to the test cages, and when the light flashed and the bleep sounded, the rats immediately began pressing the lever. The remainder of the detoxified rats were treated with SCH 39166, a drug that interferes with the function of the neurotransmitter dopamine, before being reexposed to the cues. This treatment reduced the relapse rate in the rats by 60 percent. Ciccocioppo's research into the part of the brain most affected by blocking the dopamine is discussed.
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