Reward-stress Link Points To New Targets For Treating Addiction
Wednesday, December 24, 2008 - 18:14
in Psychology & Sociology
Investigators have discovered a functional link between reward and stress. They found that dopamine -- the brain's chief reward signal -- works through corticotrophin-releasing factor -- the brain's main stress signal -- to increase the activity of a brain region involved in addiction relapse. The findings, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience, point to new potential targets for treating alcohol and drug abuse -- particularly the problem of relapse.