Adding a new and important finding to the already existing treatments of cocaine addiction, the UC Irvine pharmacological researchers have discovered that blocking of a hormone related to hunger regulation can limit cocaine carving.

The study, led by Shinjae Chung and Olivier Civelli, examined the work of melanin-concentrating hormone with dopamine, present in the brain’s “pleasure center” for creating an addictive response to cocaine use. The researchers revealed that blocking of MCH in these brain cells could limit cocaine addiction desires.

The study is first of its kind and highlights the relationship of MCH with dopamine in cocaine hunger and shows that it occurs in the nucleus accumbens, a part of forebrain that plays a vital role in addiction and pleasure and fear feelings.

Civelli, a professor of neuropharmacology, told that the finding indicated MCH as a key regulator of dopamine in a brain area linked with pleasure and addiction feelings. He also said that they believed that MCH findings might lead to discovery of new treatments that would aid in breaking cocaine addiction and also for other drugs, like amphetamines and nicotine.

From Science Daily:

UC Irvine pharmacological researchers have discovered that blocking a hormone related to hunger regulation can limit cocaine craving. Their findings could herald a new approach to overcoming addiction.

Led by Shinjae Chung and Olivier Civelli, the study identified how the melanin-concentrating hormone works with dopamine in the brain’s “pleasure center” to create an addictive response to cocaine use. The researchers further found that blocking MCH in these brain cells limited cocaine cravings.

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter essential to the normal functioning of the central nervous system. It also is associated with feelings of pleasure and is released in the brain during eating, sex and drug use. Heightened levels of the neurotransmitter have been detected in the nucleus accumbens of drug addicts.

The UCI researchers conducted tests on mice and found that when conditioned to develop cocaine cravings, test mice showed increased level of MCH and dopamine in their nucleus accumbens. But, when blocking of MCH proteins were administered by experimental compounds those carving signs disappeared. In addition, both the leading examiners found that mice lacking key receptors for MCH exhibited significantly fewer cocaine cravings.

For general information, Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is essential for the normal functioning of the central nervous system and is released in the brain during eating, sex and drug use. That’s why increased levels of the neurotransmitter can be detected in the nucleus accumbens of drug addicts.

MCH, in mammals, is involved in the regulation of feeding behavior and energy balance. Researchers, from all over the world, are engaged in searching of compounds that can lower MCH level for potential use in obesity treatment.