Stanford Report, June 21, 2006

Malenka interviewed on 'Science Friday'

Why do people get hooked on certain substances and behaviors?

That was the subject of the June 16 National Public Radio program "Science Friday," including Robert Malenka, the Nancy Friend Pritzker Professor in Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, as one of its guests. "One of the breakthroughs in the addiction field," he said, "was the realization that one common action of many different substances of abuse—whether it's nicotine or alcohol or cocaine or heroine—is that they all work on something we call the brain's reward circuitry."

In addition to acting on this circuitry, Malenka explained, addictive substances also cause an increase in the chemical messenger, dopamine. As a result, he added, "there are adaptations—long-lasting changes in these circuits—that lead the person to believe that the pursuit of this substance is the most important thing in their life."

According to Malenka, understanding those changes is a big step toward understanding how to reverse those changes. He noted: "The pharmaceutical industry is more interested [in developing medications] because our neurobiological understanding of addiction is expanding. They are beginning to realize it's a biological problem that can be attacked by modern biomedical research."

To hear streaming audio of the program, visit http://www.sciencefriday.com/pages/2006/Jun/hour1_061606.html.