Navigation Links
Smokers quit after damage to brain region

Smokers with a damaged insula ?a region in the brain linked to emotion and feelings ?quit smoking easily and immediately, according to a study in the Jan. 26 issue of the journal Science.

The study provides direct evidence of smoking's grip on the brain.

It also raises the possibility that other addictive behaviors may have an equally strong hold on neural circuits for pleasure.

The senior authors of the study are Antoine Bechara and Hanna Damasio, both faculty in the year-old Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California, in collaboration with graduate students Nasir Naqvi, who was first author on the study, and David Rudrauf, both from the University of Iowa.

"This is the first study of its kind to use brain lesions to study a drug addiction in humans," Naqvi said.

In the 1990s, Antonio Damasio proposed the insula, a small island enclosed by the cerebral cortex, as a "platform for feelings and emotion." The Science study shows that the pleasure of smoking appears to rest on this platform.

"It's really intriguing to think that disrupting this region breaks the pleasure feelings associated with smoking," said Damasio, director of the institute and holder of the David Dornsife Chair in Neuroscience at USC.

"It is immediate. It's not that they smoke less. They don't smoke, period."

The finding raises the question of whether damage to the insula also could cause a person to quit other addictive behaviors. Can a brain lesion cure someone of their bad habits?

The answer is not yet known, Bechara said, but he suggested the phenomenon could be "generalizable" with respect to alcohol abuse, overeating and other addictions.

The discovery of the insula's role in addiction opens new directions for therapies, Bechara said, including possible drugs targeted to a region that "no one paid attention to."

"There is a lot of potential for pharmacological develo
'"/>

Source:University of Southern California


Page: 1 2

Related biology news :

1. Brain Scan Study of Smokers Reveals Signature of Craving
2. Smokers invite to test vaccine against nicotine addiction
3. Mouse brain cells rapidly recover after Alzheimers plaques are cleared
4. Does vitamin C help prevent or treat the common cold? Maybe not, after all.
5. Stem cell treatment improves mobility after spinal cord injury
6. Bad aftertaste? New sensory on/off switch may cure bane of artificial sweetener search
7. New type of rejection blocker protects kidneys after transplant
8. Hurricane aftermath: Infectious disease threats from common, not exotic, diseases
9. Bone marrow stem cells may heal hearts even years after heart attacks
10. Many smokers fail to quit after cancer diagnosis
11. Getting an evolutionary handle on life after reproduction
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Smokers quit after damage brain region

(Date:5/22/2013)... important new details on how climate change will affect ... in the Journal of Animal Ecology . This ... and informing policymakers of how species are likely to ... is a growing recognition among biologists that climate change ... that this is going to have very important consequences ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... attached to a whale entangled in fishing gear, scientists ... a whale,s diving and swimming behavior. The monitoring revealed ... migrate, depletes their energy as they drag gear for ... death. , The scientists in this entanglement response suction-cupped ... female North Atlantic right whale called Eg 3911. The ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... method for delivering molecules into single, targeted cells ... technique could find applications in drug delivery, cell ... a technique used to deliver molecules into ... that are caused by exposing them to electric ... cell transfection. (Cell transfection is the introduction of ...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions 2UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions 3UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions 4UCLA life scientists present new insights on climate change and species interactions 5Study reveals how fishing gear can cause slow death of whales 2Study reveals how fishing gear can cause slow death of whales 3Single-cell transfection tool enables added control for biological studies 2
... and heavy smokers develop Alzheimers disease years earlier than ... heavily, according to research that will be presented at ... in Chicago, April 1219, 2008. These results are ... or eliminate heavy smoking and drinking, we could substantially ...
... The vitamin industry has long touted antioxidants as a ... diet, but a new review of studies found no ... review authors said that some antioxidants could increase risk ... the nutraceuticals industry, but an antioxidant researcher with the ...
... from the National Institute of Standards and Technology ... Ground have developed reliable methods based on DNA ... anthrax spores after prolonged storage. The techniques and ... reference standard for anthrax detection and decontamination. ...
Cached Biology News:Alzheimer's starts earlier for heavy drinkers, smokers 2Antioxidant users don't live longer, analysis of studies concludes 2Antioxidant users don't live longer, analysis of studies concludes 3NIST, Army researchers pave the way for anthrax spore standards 2
(Date:5/21/2013)... Milwaukee, Wisc. (PRWEB) May 21, 2013 ... equipment parts distributor , will be exhibiting for ... the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) 2013 Conference ... manage, purchase, support, distribute, and manufacture healthcare technologies. ... 1-3 in Long Beach, California. , The ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... 2013 Clinverse, Inc. , ... clinical trials, announced today it has formed a ... Clinverse’s ClinPay® FLS eClinical commerce platform aggregates data ... SpendMD ™, Aggregate Spend Solutions’ recently-launched flagship ... and reporting transfer of value at investigator meetings ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... 2013 As the R&D sector ... within the industry to deliver better products, faster. ... pharma companies often means turning big ideas into ... in collaboration with Sensidose AB and Recipharm, is ... products to market sooner. The partnership resulted in ...
(Date:5/21/2013)... Md. , May 21, 2013  MacroGenics, ... 1 study of margetuximab (MGAH22), an Fc-modified chimeric ... tumors expressing the HER2 oncoprotein," will be presented ... Society of Clinical Oncology during the Developmental Therapeutics ... 3 at 4:15 – 4:30 PM.  The presentation ...
Breaking Biology Technology:Alpha Source, Inc. to Exhibit at the AAMI 2013 Conference and Expo 2Clinverse, Inc. Announces Strategic Alliance with Aggregate Spend Solutions, LLC 2Clinverse, Inc. Announces Strategic Alliance with Aggregate Spend Solutions, LLC 3The Development of an Innovative Microtablet Dosage Form, a Success Story: Live Webinar Hosted by Xtalks 2MacroGenics Announces Margetuximab (MGAH22) Phase 1 Data Presentation at ASCO; Initiates Phase 2 Clinical Study to Evaluate Activity of Margetuximab in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer 2MacroGenics Announces Margetuximab (MGAH22) Phase 1 Data Presentation at ASCO; Initiates Phase 2 Clinical Study to Evaluate Activity of Margetuximab in Patients with Metastatic Breast Cancer 3
... preclinical and Phase 1 safety studies, and plans for ... hyperplasia (BPH) are to be presentedCINCINNATI, May 14 ... medicines for an aging global population, will lead off ... 19, 2009 at 9:00 AM in Atlanta, Georgia. Ausio ...
... vs. prior year -DENVER, May 14 Corgenix Medical Corporation ... diagnostic test kits, today filed its third quarter Form 10-Q ... sales have increased during the quarter ended March 31, 2009, ... the results highlighted by the report are as follows:, ...
... /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - Oncothyreon Inc. (NASDAQ: ONTY ) (TSX: ... million or $0.13 per basic and diluted share for the ... of $5.1 million or $0.26 per basic and diluted share ... loss is primarily the result of the transfer of manufacturing ...
Cached Biology Technology:Ausio Pharmaceuticals to Present at Bio(R) 2009 2Corgenix Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2009 Financial Results 2Corgenix Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2009 Financial Results 3Corgenix Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2009 Financial Results 4Oncothyreon reports first quarter 2009 financial results 2Oncothyreon reports first quarter 2009 financial results 3Oncothyreon reports first quarter 2009 financial results 4Oncothyreon reports first quarter 2009 financial results 5