October 23, 2012

expert reaction to a diabetes drug lessening cocaine reward

In a Letter to the Editor published in Molecular Psychiatry, a drug used to treat type 2 diabetes was found to reduce the rewarding effects of cocaine in mice.

Dr Alexis Bailey, Lecturer in Neuropharmacology, University of Surrey, said:

“This study shows that the GLP-1 analogue, a drug used for the treatment of type II diabetes, can reduce the pleasurable/rewarding effects of cocaine in mice. One has to be cautious though as this is only a preliminary study and the effect is rather small. The drug does not completely block the pleasurable effect of cocaine, it just slightly reduces it. It would be interesting to see if it can actually reduce cocaine self administration which is more predictive of drug addiction behaviour.

“This is another example of how substances which control appetite can influence pleasurable centers in the brain. Indeed, there are common pathways in the brain involved both in food and drug addiction. Our lab at Surrey University are particularly interested in investigating common changes in brain chemistry which occur both during food and drug addiction.”

‘GLP-1 analog attenuates cocaine reward’ by Graham et al, published in Molecular Psychiatry on Tuesday 23^rdOctober.