Ready vaccine for cocaine addiction
Scientists in California have discovered a vaccine that neutralizes cocaine addiction in mice, and now prepare a human version could also work with other addictive as nicotine and methamphetamine.
“Our very dramatic results show that we can protect mice from the effects (addictive) of cocaine, and we believe these ranges are very promising in the fight against addiction in humans,” said the director of research, Ronald Crystal.
The project Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, says the vaccine creates antibodies that neutralize the effects of cocaine that create addiction.
A co-researcher, Kim Jandra, said the vaccine “deleted the stimulant effects of cocaine.”
He emphasized that the vaccine blocks the effects of cocaine before it reaches the brain.
In the laboratory model, the vaccine provided immunity to mice for a period of 13 weeks.
Jandra said the vaccine would be ‘extremely useful for the treatment of cocaine addiction crack, which has the highest rate of relapse’ among patients in addiction treatment to stop.
According to the Institute of Health, USA, in 2008 some five million 300 thousand Americans over age 12 had used cocaine ‘crack’ at least once in previous months. It is considered that crack is one of the most addictive version of cocaine, whose consumption is prohibited in the country.
Jandra said that cocaine interferes with normal function in the brain dopaína, which functions as a system of rewards.
A few seconds after using cocaine, the drug beyond the regular flow of blood and accumulates in the brain where it generates a feeling of ecstasy that lasts several minutes.
People who are addicted or who use cocaine often perceive this system of “reward” of the drug as if it were greater success to stop the addiction, he said.
The vaccine Jandra has developed since the 90′s makes cocaine ‘outsider’ to the immune system develops antibodies that neutralize the stimulating action, that creates the addiction.
In experiments, some mice received similar amounts of cocaine to which a human consume without suffering from addiction.
Jandra said will go a long way to go before the vaccine can be marketed, but said he hoped one day his discovery is very important to combat addiction in humans.