Craving for Cocaine Created by Buildup of Long-Lasting Protein

Cocaine may be one of the toughest addictions to cure because it triggers a buildup of a protein that persists in the brain and stimulates genes that intensify the craving for the drug, new research suggests. The findings, reported in today’s Nature, offer the first concrete proof that drug use triggers a specific long-term change in brain chemistry.

Scientists at the Yale School of Medicine were able to isolate the long-lived protein, called Delta-FosB, and show that it triggered addiction when released to a specific area of the brains of genetically engineered mice. The protein isn’t produced in the brain until addicts have used cocaine several times, or even for several years. But once the buildup begins, the need for the drug becomes overpowering and the user’s behavior becomes increasingly compulsive.

Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II