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Alcohol Treatment Research: Impulsivity could be a key focus for future drug treatment

Why are some individuals vulnerable to the transition from casual to compulsive drug use? Cambridge University scientists have concluded that there is a genetic vulnerability to addiction, which is best known for alcoholism. However, the precise relationship between vulnerability genes and addictive behaviour remains to be established.

Professor Barry Everitt said: "It has never been clear whether these behavioural characteristics are a cause or a consequence of their long-term abuse of drugs. This is where animal studies have unique power, because they can probe causal relationships in a way that is impossible and unethical in human populations."

The Cambridge research team, which included Professor Everitt, Drs David Belin, Adam Mar, Jeff Dalley and Professor Trevor Robbins working in the Departments of Experimental Psychology and Psychiatry within the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute, showed that a spontaneously occurring tendency, or trait', of impulsivity in rats predicts the transition from casual to compulsive drug use and drug addiction.

Professor Everitt stated: "This study is important because it shows that impulsivity is a vulnerability characteristic that predicts a switch to compulsive drug use when individuals are exposed to and take cocaine. Therefore, drug addiction is characterized by a shift from impulsive to compulsive behaviour.

"The study also shows that initial responsiveness to the positive effects of cocaine seen in sensation seekers does not predict the development of addiction."

The new study represents an advance by showing that these neural and behavioural changes are forerunners of the eventual transition to drug addiction. The results also suggest that impulsive behaviour is a promising focus for future behavioural and pharmacological treatments for addiction and, perhaps especially, for preventing relapse to a drug taking habit in those attempting to relinquish it and abstain.

High Impulsivity Predicts the Switch to Compulsive Cocaine-Taking was published in the 6th June edition of Science.

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