Neurotransmitters in Opiate and Alcohol Addiction

上瘾是我们社会和全球普遍存在的问题。这一系列调查继续了我们对最常见和最有害的两种成瘾物质--鸦片类药物(海洛因)和酒精的研究工作。许多因素影响戒毒者的成瘾、成瘾的维持和复吸。我们正在详细研究其中一个因素，成瘾背后的大脑机制，特别是涉及哪些大脑化学物质(神经递质)。我们发现，有不同毒瘾的人可能在镇静大脑的关键神经递质(GABA)方面存在共同缺陷，这可能解释了为什么他们难以控制自己的吸毒欲望。我们也有证据表明，大脑？S自己的愉悦系统--内啡肽--可能在成瘾中发挥了作用。目前的研究计划跟踪这些线索，看看它们是否在与毒品无关的成瘾中也很重要？赌博？以了解他们是否在成瘾中起到了更普遍的作用。从这些发现中，我们已经确定了开发新疗法的潜在途径，我们希望我们的进一步发现将鼓励公司开发新的疗法研究。我们在英国是一个独特的群体，因为我们多年来一直在吸毒者和健康志愿者中使用脑扫描(PET神经成像)技术来观察大脑机制。我们的团队由治疗成瘾者的医生、PET和MRI成像方面的专家，以及在成瘾药物和大脑受体方面拥有专业知识的精神药理学家组成。幸运的是，我们在日常实践中遇到的许多客户都对我们感兴趣，他们自愿参与我们的研究，并允许我们扫描他们的大脑，这种兴趣仍在继续。我们经验丰富，并致力于通过在会议上发表报告和在期刊上写作来向科学界发布我们的成果。我们定期与帮助吸毒者康复的组织举行会议。我们通过科学节和公共科学活动等活动与公众进行大量交流，并通过参加有关上瘾的电台和电视节目通过媒体进行交流。

Addiction is a widespread problem in our society and globally. This series of investigations continues our work in the study of 2 of the commonest and most harmful addictions, opiates (heroin) and alcohol. Many factors influence the entrance to addiction, its maintenance and the relapse to drugs in people who have abstained. We are studying in detail one of these factors, the brain mechanisms behind addiction, and in particular what brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) are involved. We have found that people with different addictions may have a shared deficit in the key neurotransmitter that calms the brain (GABA) which may explain why they have trouble controlling their desire to take drugs. Also we have evidence that the brain?s own pleasure system, the endorphins, may play a role in addiction. The current research program follows up these leads to see if they may also be important in an addiction that does not involve drugs ? gambling ? to see if they have a more general role in addiction. From these findings we have already identified potential avenues for development of new treatments and we hope that further discoveries we make will encourage companies to develop new research into treatments. We are a unique group in the UK because we have been using brain scanning (PET neuroimaging) techniques in addicts and in healthy volunteers to look at brain mechanisms for some years. Our group is comprised of doctors who treat addicts, specialists in PET and MRI imaging, and psychopharmacologists with expertise in drugs of addiction and brain receptors. We have been fortunate to interest many of the clients we meet in our day-to-day practice, who have volunteered in our studies and allowed us to scan their brains, and this interest continues.We are experienced in and committed to publishing our results to the scientific community by presenting at conferences and writing in journals. We hold regular meetings with organisations helping addicts in their recovery. We communicate a lot with to the public through events such as science festivals and public science events, and through the media by taking part in radio and TV programmes about addiction.