PRESS RELEASE FROM NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY and NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY
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NEUROPSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY
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Alternative rewards may reduce addiction
Nondrug rewards could be a viable alternative to addictive drugs according to a study published in Neuropsychopharmacology. This finding could have important implications for those seeking treatment for drug addiction.
Serge Ahmed and colleagues found that rats with the hallmarks of heroin addiction used the substance less when a nondrug reward in the form of food was available. They also found that more dependant rats responded more to this alternative reward. This research indicates that the addicted brain remains reactive to nondrug rewards, and challenges the belief that the transition to addiction is associated with an individual valuing a drug more and nondrug rewards less. While studies in humans are needed, this finding suggests that heroin addiction could potentially be alleviated by increasing the availability of nondrug rewards to those with an addiction.
Contact:
Serge Ahmed (Université Victor-Segalen Bordeaux 2, Bordeaux, France)
Tel: +33 557 571 566; E-mail: [email protected]
Editorial contact:
Diane Drexler (Neuropsychopharmacology, Nashville, TN, USA)
Tel: +1 615 324 2371; E-mail: [email protected]
NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY
PLEASE CITE NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY AND THE NATURE REVIEWS MOLECULAR CELL BIOLOGY WEBSITE AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEM. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO www.nature.com/nrm
An embargoed pdf copy of this paper is now available on the Reviews Journals section of: http://press.nature.com
Evolution: Outside-in?
Theories that explain how the ‘primordial soup’ from which the first cell formed are challenged by a new model presented by Gareth Griffiths in an article published in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology this month.
The theory that all life evolved from one source — the last common ancestor — as proposed by Charles Darwin and others, enjoys considerable support among evolutionary biologists. But questions remain about how the features that comprise a cell — membrane, cytoskeleton, genetic material — evolve to form a functional cell.
Numerous models propose that the formation of cells occurred inside randomly formed compartments (called vesicles) by a process known as the ‘cytoplasm within the vesicle’ scenario. But experimental validation of this theory is limited. Gareth Griffiths now describes an alternative theory that challenges previous dogma: the ‘cytoplasm outside the vesicle’ scenario. This theory states that early cytoplasmic components evolved in fresh water, probably on a mineral rock surface that also anchored small vesicles upon which the cytoplasm evolved.
The crucial difference is that this model proposes that the cytoskeleton, which maintains the three-dimensional structure of a cell and is involved in diverse cellular functions such as motility and transport, is required before, and as part of, the mechanism that led to cell formation. This theory provides an explanation to some of the mystifying questions in evolution, such as how two of the main kingdoms of life — prokaryotes (such as bacteria) and eukaryotes (such as mammals and plants) — might have diverged.
Contact
Gareth Griffiths (European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg, Germany)
Tel: + 49 6221 387 8267 Email: [email protected]
PRESS CONTACTS
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