Scientists show deep brain stimulation blocks heroin relapse in rats
Rats that were used to taking heroin, and normally would have self-administered more and more of the drug, did not escalate their intake when treated with DBS. The treatment involves the weak electrical stimulation, via implanted electrodes, of a brain region called the subthalamic nucleus. "It has been very difficult to reduce heroin-seeking and -taking in an animal model because heroin is such an addictive drug, but the results here are very impressive," said the study's principal investigator Olivier George, an associate professor in TSRI's Committee on the Neurobiology of Addictive Disorders. "This is the type of preclinical evidence that one needs, in order to start testing this strategy in humans." "These results also suggest new insights into the neurocircuitry of heroin addiction," said co-author George F. Koob, who headed the Committee during the study and is currently on leave from TSRI to direct the National Institute on Alcoho...