AsianScientist (Dec. 8, 2011) – An attentive, nurturing mother may be able to help her children better resist the temptations of drug use later in life, according to a study published this week in the Journal of Neuroscience.
Researchers from Duke University in the United States and the University of Adelaide in Australia show for the first time how mothering can strengthen an offspring’s immune system in the brain.
Using rats as a model, the neuroscientists exposed baby rats to morphine and noted their follow-up cravings for the drug.
Rat pups who were well nurtured by their mothers showed a four-fold increase in the production of a molecule in the brain’s immune system called interleukin-10, and had less cravings for morphine after the initial dose than rats who were left alone.
“Morphine activates the glial cells of the brain to produce inflammatory molecules which signal a reward center of the brain, contributing to addiction. But IL-10 works against that inflammation and reward. It completely knocks out this drug-seeking behavior,” explained Dr. Mark Hutchinson of the University of Adelaide.
“The more IL-10 produced in the brain, the less likely morphine causes an increase in craving or relapse weeks after initially being exposed to the drug,” he added.
The researchers clarify that the production of IL-10 does not diminish the rewarding effect of morphine, but instead alters the initial craving for the drug.
“It’s important to note that the genetic modification created by the mothering didn’t change the initial rewarding effect of the morphine. It altered the craving for that reward much later on,” said Assistant Professor Staci Bilbo of Duke University.
This is the first study to show how morphine causes a molecular response specifically in the glial cells of the brain’s reward centers, which have only recently been identified as part of drug addiction’s circuitry.
“Excitingly, we have also shown that a drug that targets these brain immune cells is also able to protect against drug cravings, providing a new way to treat drug addiction,” Dr. Hutchinson said.
The article can be found at: Schwarz JM et al. (2011) Early-Life Experience Decreases Drug-Induced Reinstatement of Morphine CPP in Adulthood via Microglial-Specific Epigenetic Programming of Anti-Inflammatory IL-10 Expression.
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Source: University of Adelaide.
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