It is clear in research throughout the industry that addiction has a significant impact on the brain. The challenge in this area is that only some drug users actually become addicts, while others are able to use as desired and walk away when it doesn’t fit their lifestyle or activities at the time.
A set of researchers wanted to determine why this is and their findings were captured in a recent Science Daily release. This team found that the transition to addiction could be the result of a persistent impairment of synaptic plasticity in a key structure of the brain.
This research team challenged the assumption that addiction is the result of pathological cerebral modifications that can develop gradually with drug use. According to their results, addiction can actually come from a form of anaplasticity or the incapacity of those individuals with an addiction to counteract the pathological modifications that drugs cause all users.
A number of animal species will take part in the voluntary consumption of drugs. Addiction, however, has long been defined as compulsive and pathological consumption and is considered to be specific to the human species, as well as its social structure.
The research teams focusing on this topic are finding the first known biological mechanisms for the transition from regular to controlled drug taking which transitions into a genuine cocaine addiction. At this point, the individual has lost control over their consumption of the drug.
According to research leaders, the result of this study demonstrates that the brain of non-addicted users holds the key to a true addiction therapy. Understanding how one individual can maintain control over consumption could provide the necessary tools to understand how to combat the anaplastic state that causes addiction.
