Thanks for the kind words.
One of the more interesting studies I’ve come across recently is about the self administration of heroin, cocaine, and a mixture of heroin and cocaine in rats. There is a common misconception that dopamine release is powers addiction, this study inadvertently disproved that hypothesis. This was a very well done study that impressed me with its thoroughness. They took readings of rat brains after administering each of these drugs and saw that the release and inhibited re-uptake of dopamine was the highest among the mixture of heroin and cocaine.
This should be obvious considering their pharmacological properties. Heroin causes a pretty significant amount of dopamine to be released from the dopaminergic host cells. It goes onto the receptor and can stay there for a while due to the agonization of the mu-opioid receptor. Cocaine doesn’t release quite as much dopamine, instead it blocks the transport of dopamine. This will cause the dopamine to stay on the receptor longer, but cocaine is very short lived. In my experience it lasts no more than 30 minutes, sometimes less.
In this study it showed that rats self administered cocaine far more often than both the mixture and heroin alone. If dopamine was what powered compulsive self administration it should’ve been the heroin and cocaine mixture that was redosed more often. While it is fairly obvious the reason this occurs is because cocaine doesn’t last as long as heroin, it was still very interesting to see that cocaine was self administered far more often.
Then there is another study I’d like to mention, we can discuss both in further detail if that’s what you’d like to do. This one is more interesting to people who aren’t deeply interested in pharmacology. There is a drug called Ibogaine. It’s a naturally occurring substance and one of the most complex molecules on earth. It’s so complex that we still have a difficult time synthesizing it on a commercial level. Ibogaine has an incredibly complex Pharmacology. It is an NMDA receptor antagonist like Ketamine, which as been used to treat depression. It is an SSRI which has also been used to treat depression. It is an alpha-3 beta-4 nicotinic choline receptor agonist, which has been shows to help people quit smoking and is one of the effects of the anti-depressant Wellbutrin. It is also a 5-ht2a receptor agonist which has been shown to help with addiction and depression as well that’s what LSD and psilocybin do. It is a dopamine re-uptake inhibitor which is also a mechanism for treating depression.
The two most impressive studies done with this drug have shown an incredible efficacy for treating opioid addiction. This is what most people know Ibogaine for. But that is just the tip of the iceberg with this drug. It also releases a substance called GDNF, Glial derived neurotrophic factor. This substance has been shown to be one of the only things discovered that rebuilds dopaminergic neurons. Why is that important? Well that is what Parkinson’s is, Parkinson’s destroys these neurons. So it is very possible that ibogaine could be a treatment for Parkinson’s. The best, or worst depending on who you’re asking, part about ibogaine is that it isn’t potent. It has actually been used medicinally in Europe before to treat some mental illnesses, in low doses. It is cardio toxic , so these large flood doses people take when they go overseas to help treat their addiction quickly, can be dangerous. It seems like if we would remove this substance from schedule 1 in the US and begin doing human trials on its medical abilities something very useful could enter our medicine cabinets to treat a lot of things.
