TMCnet News
The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill., HealthLife column [The Pantagraph, Bloomington, Ill. :: ](Pantagraph (Bloomington, IL) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Aug. 22--NORMAL -- What would happen if people addicted to illegal amphetamines didn't get high? That's what Paul Garris, a distinguished professor of neurobiology at Illinois State University in Normal, and Pedram Mohseni, associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, are trying to determine. In a lab in ISU's Felmley Science Annex, Garris, Mohseni and graduate students from both universities are testing a device they hope will help to lessen an addicted brain's response to stimulant use by lowering dopamine levels. The ultimate goal is to reduce the number of people who are addicted to life-destroying stimulants, including amphetamines, methamphetamines and cocaine. The potential application is huge. About one in 200 Americans is addicted to a stimulant, said Michael Dennis, senior research psychologist with Lighthouse Institute, the research division of Bloomington-based Chestnut Health Systems. "It's exciting," said Dennis, who is aware of the research project but not involved with it. "It's really on the cutting edge," he said. "We've been saying since the 1980s that addiction is a brain disorder," Dennis said. But there is no FDA-approved medication to limit the craving for a stimulant, as there are to limit cravings for alcohol, tobacco and heroin and other pain killers. "We've had great success with the device," Garris said in the lab last week as he, Mohseni and graduate students did their research. But Garris warns that the research is at an early stage and he wouldn't estimate when the device would be available for people. Dennis said, "It's probably a decade away from being used in patients." For 30 years, Garris has studied dopamine, a chemical messenger that transmits brain signals affecting motivation and movement. Previous research included Parkinson's disease. He developed a device to measure dopamine levels in the brain. The device was further developed by Mayo Clinic and is being used for neurochemical monitoring in patients during neurosurgery. In recent years, Garris has gone beyond measuring dopamine and has partnered with Mohseni on designing devices that also would inhibit dopamine neurons if they became too active. Their research has focused on drugs of abuse and how their affects could be counteracted by altering dopamine. Dopamine responds to natural rewards such as food, Garris said. For example, if we sense delicious food, our dopamine levels increase. However, "we think drugs of abuse hyper-activate dopamine signals in the brain, while natural rewards mildly or moderately activate those signals," Garris said. That leads to addiction, he said. "We don't want to cut those signals but to moderate them so the natural rewards can better compete with the drugs," he said. Garris and Mohseni -- whose specializes in miniaturization of devices and instruments using integrated circuit technology -- developed an integrated circuit that Mohseni was able to get down to the size of a microchip. It's 3.3 millimeters by 3.3 millimeters, Mohseni said. The device is designed to monitor dopamine and then lower dopamine levels if they become too high. "I could set the threshold level and activate the micro-stimulator only when dopamine exceeds that level," Mohseni said. The goal would be to allow elevation of dopamine for natural highs to continue but to curb excessive dopamine spikes from unnatural causes, like illegal stimulant use, Garris said. "The idea is to come up with a mechanism, a prosthesis, to help regulate the brain to counter the affects of addiction. It would be akin to a pacemaker used to control depression," Dennis said. "We need to inhibit the addictive, reflective response to give the person's brain a chance to respond." Garris and Mohseni envision the integrated circuit device implanted in the skull and then connected to electrodes inserted into the brain. Dennis foresees the device being used in people with stimulant use disorder for whom traditional treatment has been unsuccessful. In the past several years, Garris and Mohseni have received four federal grants totaling $1.54 million. Last week, the researchers began testing the device in anesthetized lab rats. If they're successful, the next step will be to test the device in ambulatory lab rats who are under the influence of amphetamines, Garris said. The device must successfully treat lab animals before it could be considered for human testing. ___ (c)2014 The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill.) Visit The Pantagraph (Bloomington, Ill.) at www.pantagraph.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |