In this episode, our guest Antonello Bonci, scientific director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, discusses how drug abuse affects the brain both short-term and long-term.
Participants: Jean-François Gariépy (left), Antonello Bonci (center) and Diana L. Xie (right). Joining us on the phone, Marguerite Matthews.
"0:17" Introduction
"1:19" Does drug abuse modify the brain?
"8:04" Synapses: the site of action for drugs.
"10:16" Do drugs kill brain cells?
"16:01" Reward behaviors and the brain.
"24:28" Long-term potentiation, a mechanisms.
"35:32" What are the brain areas affected by drugs?
"40:06" A study looking at cocaine addiction in rats and how modification of activity in the prefrontal can improve behaviors.
"44:17" Optogenetics allow modifciation of activity in some population of neurons in the brain.
"56:00" Electrical and magnetic stimulation of the brain is considered as a potential therapeutic strategy for certain disorders.
