Attention, chocolate lovers: You may not be able to help yourselves. Swiss and British scientists have linked the widespread love of chocolate to a chemical "signature" that may be programmed into our metabolic systems.
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Schizophrenia Drug Might Curb Addiction
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WEDNESDAY, Feb. 22 (HealthDay News) -- The antipsychotic drug trifluoperazine -- used to treat schizophrenia and other kinds of mental illness -- may also block addiction to opioid painkillers such as morphine, a new study suggests. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago injected half a milligram of the drug into mice addicted to morphine and found that, within a few hours, the mice were no longer addicted to the painkiller. This is the first study to demonstrate that trifluoperazine may have anti-addictive properties. Studies done in the 1970s and 1980s showed that trifluoperazine inhibits a molecule called calmodulin, which is required for the activation of an enzyme called calcium/calmodulin-dependent protein kinase 2 (CaMK-2). "In previous studies ... we know that CaMK-2 plays an important role in the generation and maintenance of opioid tolerance," researcher Z. Jim Wang, an assistant professor of pharmacology, explained in a prepared statement. Tolerance to opioids is a hallmark of growing dependence. "Trifluoperazine targets this pathway, which then stops the addiction. When this occurs, you can still use a relatively low dose of the painkiller to achieve fairly good pain control and no drug dependence," Wang said. More information The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about opioids.
Last Updated: Feb. 22, 2006 |