Science of Addiction: Cocaine
There is now a vast amount of research devoted to understanding how cocaine produces its effects, and why it is so addictive. Cocaine is able to get deep inside the brain very quickly. Scientists now know about regions deep within the brain that are stimulated by rewards. One reward system that appears to be heavily affected by cocaine is located in a region deep within the brain called the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Nerve cells that branch out from the VTA extend to the nucleus acumens, one of the brain’s key reward areas.
For example in lab studies using animals, all forms of rewarding stimulus; food, water, sex, and many addicting drugs- including cocaine, enable increased activity in the nucleus acumens. Scientists are discovering that when a rewarding event takes place, it is followed by a large increase in the amount of dopamine released in the same area. Normally, dopamine is released by a neuron into the synapse (the small gap between two neurons), where it binds with dopamine receptors. Addictive drugs such as cocaine interfere with this communication process.
Scientists have also discovered that cocaine blocks the removal of dopamine from the synapse, resulting in a constant build-up of dopamine. This buildup causes continuous stimulation of the neurons, causing the euphoria commonly reported by cocaine abusers.
Cocaine, quite literally, tricks the brain into releasing more and more dopamine, which can explain the crash that addicts suffer through after a binge. The brain simply has nothing left to give.
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