Title : Why Are Teenagers More Likely To Become Addicted To Drugs?
link : Why Are Teenagers More Likely To Become Addicted To Drugs?
Why Are Teenagers More Likely To Become Addicted To Drugs?
"Post-body-5094646715006461614"> Teens are more likely to get hooked on drugs than adults, and two new studies they are helping to understand why. The use of animal models and humans, researchers based on US They have attributed these different susceptibilities to addiction activity of a cell molecule called eIF2α. When its activity is increased, eIF2α downregulates new protein synthesis, a process that previous research has shown is crucial to the cocaine-induced change in behavior and the strength of connections between neurons through which information flows, or synapses. Furthermore, the rate of protein production in the brain is known to decrease with age. To find out how drugs may be affecting this system, the team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas began putting adolescents and adult mice through a behavioral test that assessed their preference for a particular location. is described in eLife , mice received either low doses of cocaine while in a given environment or salt water in a different environment. The next day, they were given the opportunity to enter these settings again, and the team assessed the amount of time spent on each. If animals experienced a gratifying sense of injection, it is expected to return to the environment in which they were given cocaine, suggesting that cocaine is nice for them. Indeed, this seems to be the case, but only for teenagers. In adults, much larger doses of cocaine for them exhibit a preference for the environment in which they received the drug was taken. To look for differences in the molecular level, the team exposed brain slices and adults at low dose of cocaine adolescents and activity is measured pathways involved in protein synthesis signaling. Interestingly, cocaine significantly reduced activity in the brain eIF2α teenagers but not adults. As a result of this boost to protein synthesis, the connections between strengthened dopamine-producing neurons in the brains of adolescents, enhancing the feeling of pleasure that gives cocaine and thus promoting addictive behaviors. Nicotine also seemed to affect the eIF2α activity. Kenishirotie / Shutterstock Going one step further, the team manipulated eIF2α using both pharmacological and genetic tinkering compound. This showed that reducing its activity in adults increased their susceptibility to low doses of cocaine, while the increase in teenagers had the opposite effect. "This is super interesting, because we have a way to turn teenagers into adults with respect to changes induced by cocaine in brain activity and behavior, and viceversa ," lead author, Mauro Costa-Mattioli said IFLScience. The effects on eIF2α found to be specific to the region, only affects an area of the brain reward pathway called the ventral tegmental area, but this project areas. "This suggests that the process of eIF2α activity reduced by cocaine is involved in the induction process addiction," Costa-Mattioli said. The team also found that was no more than the cocaine that caused this response - alcohol, nicotine, methamphetamine and exerts the same effects. "These drugs will act on different receptors, but maybe they all converge in this molecule, which is like a driver of this process," he added. In the second study, also published in eLife , the researchers discovered that some people have a gene variation in eIF2α that seemed alter the responses of rewarding stimuli. The researchers scanned the brains of smokers and non-smokers and activity measured in response to a reward sweet drink. The team found that smokers showed less brain activity in response to reward, but interestingly, so did the genetic variation. "This study is important, because most people who are addicted to drugs begin in adolescence," Costa-Mattioli said. "Therefore, we speculate that the compounds which can manipulate this system could prevent the transition leisure to compulsive drug use."(source)
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