The effects of cocaine can be counteracted in mice by stimulating an enigmatic brain receptor, suggesting a possible target for addiction treatment.
The CB1 receptor in the brain has been implicated in drug addiction, but the role of the CB2 receptor has not been clear. So Zheng-Xiong Xi and his team at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, Maryland, gave cocaine-addicted mice a compound that stimulates the CB2 receptor. The animals self-administered cocaine less frequently, whereas no effect was seen in mice lacking the CB2 receptor.
The effect occurred after intranasal but not intravenous injection of the compound, suggesting that it involves CB2 receptors in the brain but not in other parts of the body.
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Target for blocking cocaine. Nature 475, 427 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/475427b
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/475427b
