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Research Highlights

Science Highlight

NIDA scientists identify a potential drug for cocaine use disorder

August 29, 2017 | Modafinil, a FDA-approved medication used to treat narcolepsy, has been investigated for its potential as a treatment of cocaine use disorders. Scientists supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse...

Opioid Agonist Treatment Reduces Societal Costs of Crime

August 23, 2017 | Researchers found that: Patients with opioid use disorder generated crime-related costs to society at a lower rate while they were in treatment compared with after they left treatment. Patients who...

Science Highlight

Post deployment behavioral health screens show promise

August 21, 2017 | This study is the first multivariate analysis of the Department of Defense and VHA data to assess treatment linkage for veterans with possible behavioral health needs.

Why Females Are More Sensitive to Cocaine

| En español

August 3, 2017 | New research demonstrates that the hormone estradiol is responsible for females’ increased sensitivity to stimulant drugs.

Science Highlight

NIDA scientists advance DREADD technology

August 3, 2017 | Scientists at the Intramural Research Program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have discovered new clues to the successful use of the DREADD technology. It has been thought...

Science Highlight

Study identifies quality measures linked to better outcomes in patients with opioid use disorders

July 27, 2017 | A NIDA funded study has identified certain process measures that are linked to lower mortality rates in people with opioid use disorders, and others that do not appear to affect...

Science Highlight

Two D3R selective antagonists provide new leads towards novel drug development

July 26, 2017 | Scientists supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse synthesized a series of molecules to investigate structure-activity relationships at the D3R. Their research resulted in the identification of two noncompetitive...

Science Highlight

Activated Structures of Cannabinoid Receptor Revealed

July 21, 2017 | Science supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) has revealed three-dimensional crystal structures of the cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB1) in its activated state.

Science Highlight

Glutamate Receptor’s Role in Cocaine Reward and Relapse

July 19, 2017 | Scientists supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) found that rats lacking mGluR2 self-administered more cocaine than wild-type rats when little work was needed to obtain the drug...

Science Highlight

Microglia Revealed

July 6, 2017 | Neuroscientists at the NIDA Intramural Research Program, with colleagues from the Johns Hopkins University, conducted the most extensive analysis to date of microglia in the midbrain of healthy mice. They...

Science Highlight

Scientists explore brain region’s role in compulsive drug seeking

June 15, 2017 | A new report suggests that impairment of the lateral habenula contributes to the transition from controlled drug use to the compulsive use seen in addiction.

Science Highlight

Strategies needed to reduce treatment dropout rate for veterans with PTSD and Substance Use Disorders

June 9, 2017 | Research funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Department of Veterans Affairs looked for predictors of dropout from one such empirically proven treatment, integrated prolonged exposure therapy.

Science Highlight

Combined HIV and heroin vaccine shows promise

May 10, 2017 | A novel combination vaccine designed to treat heroin addiction and target HIV was found to elicit immune responses in mice and dull their response to injected heroin in a recent...

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Smoking cessation medications alleviate symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, but not long-term brain changes

May 8, 2017 | Researchers now report that nicotine replacement therapy and the smoking cessation medication varenicline alleviate ex-smokers’ deficits in decision-making, but do not restore reward sensitivity. The new study pinpoints the types...

Science Highlight

High mortality among opioid use disorder patients in a general health care setting

April 24, 2017 | A new report provides information that primary care physicians and health care systems can use as they develop responses to the reforms and measure their success. The findings provide a...

Nonmedical Opioid and Heroin Use Among High School Seniors

April 14, 2017 | This study analyzed the use of use of nonmedical opioids and heroin use among 68,000 high-school seniors participating in the NIDA-funded Monitoring the Future Study between 2009 and 2013.

Science Highlight

Research shows parallels between addiction and aggression

April 5, 2017 | A new study by scientists at the National Institute on Drug Abuse's (NIDA) Intramural Research Program (IRP) showed that when mice are exposed to experimental protocols adapted from those that...

Impacts of Drugs on Neurotransmission

| En español

March 9, 2017 | Drugs can alter the way people think, feel, and behave by disrupting neurotransmission, the process of communication between neurons (nerve cells) in the brain. Many scientific studies conducted over decades...

Why Are Our Brains So Big and Powerful?

March 3, 2017 | Why is the human brain so much bigger and more powerful than that of other animals? Researchers have investigated the hypothesis that changes not only in our genes themselves, but...

Science Highlight

Gene Variant Influences Nicotine-Induced Changes to Brain Circuitry

October 11, 2016 | Researchers at NIDA and the University of Toronto investigated the role of a gene, CYP2A6, which produces an enzyme responsible for metabolizing nicotine; different variants of this gene inactivate nicotine...

Why Do People Lose Control Over Their Cocaine Use?

| En español

September 27, 2016 | This animation addresses the question: Why do people lose control over their cocaine use? Researchers monitored the activity of two types of neurons in mice: “urge” neurons, which promote feelings...

Science Highlight

Virtual Drug Design Yields Opioid Breakthrough

September 21, 2016 | Existing opioid medications have a range of side effects that make them problematic as pain treatments, as has been seen in America’s current opioid crisis and overdose epidemic.

Science Highlight

Women less sensitive than men to analgesic, but not rewarding effects of cannabis

September 2, 2016 | Animal studies have shown sex differences in cannabis-induced analgesia, but these studies had not previously been done in humans. A new study explored this issue by assessing the analgesic and...

Science Highlight

Marijuana Use Raises SUD Risk

February 24, 2016 | The health impacts of marijuana are currently the subject of significant public debate. Past data have suggested a link to numerous mental health outcomes including substance use disorders (SUDs), mood...

Science Highlight

Factors Predicting the Transition from Prescription Opioids to Heroin

February 2, 2016 | Prescription opioid misuse remains one of America’s biggest drug problems. In recent years the numbers of people misusing prescription pain relievers has leveled off, however, the number of people dying...

Science Highlight

E-cigarette use associated with risk of relapse among former cigarette smokers

| This study has shown that among former smokers, use of electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), including e-cigarettes and other e-products, is associated with increased chance of cigarette smoking relapse.