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a stroke of good luck for smokers

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the paper mentioned is here: insula_nicotine.pdf

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http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/01/...9788693843.html

A stroke of good luck for smokers

SCIENTISTS have pinpointed the source of nicotine addiction — a 2.5-centimetre-wide pleasure centre deep in the brain. The insula, a small island in the cerebral cortex, has been described as a "platform for feelings and emotion".

Researchers found that smokers who suffered damage to this part of the brain were able to quit quickly and easily.

They suspect the insula may also be involved in other forms of addictive behaviour that keep people hooked on drugs or excessive eating.

Understanding the link could lead to new ways to deal with addiction.

The discovery emerged after US scientists learned of a heavy smoker whose dependency was broken after a stroke damaged his insula.

The man, who had smoked 40 cigarettes a day, quit immediately. He told researchers that his body "forgot the urge to smoke".

An investigation of 69 brain-damaged smokers then revealed 19 with insula injury. Of these, 13 had also given up, all but one without any difficulty. The researchers do not know why the six others failed to quit.

The study leader, Antoine Bechara, of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, said: "One of the most difficult problems in any form of addiction is the difficulty in stopping the urge to smoke, to take a drug, or to eat for that matter.

"Now we have identified a brain target for further research into dealing with that urge."

The insula receives information from other parts of the body and is thought to help translate those signals into something subjectively felt, such as hunger, pain, or a craving.

In the 1990s, a neuroscientist, Antonio Damasio, first suggested that the insula was a platform for feelings and emotion.

"It's really intriguing to think that disrupting this region breaks the pleasure feelings associated with smoking," he said.

Compared with other brain regions, the insula has not attracted much attention from addiction researchers.

But some imaging studies have shown that the region is activated by drug-associated cues, such as the sight of people taking drugs, or drug-taking equipment such as spoons, syringes and "roll-up" paper.

Any anti-smoking treatment aimed at the insula would have to preserve the brain region's beneficial functions.

But Dr Bechara points out that the insula appears to be involved specifically with "learned behaviours", rather than fundamental drives necessary for survival. He believes it might be possible to target one without disrupting the other.

The findings were reported this week in the journal Science. Peter Stern, the journal's senior editor, said: "This kind of study is quite forward-looking. In addition to investigating a basic scientific mechanism underlying drug addiction, these authors have come up with innovative ideas about how we may be able to treat addiction and prevent relapse."

insula_nicotine.pdf

insula_nicotine.pdf

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I read this article too, and the first thing I thought of was "do we know if Ibogaine affects the inula?"

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The man, who had smoked 40 cigarettes a day, quit immediately. He told researchers that his body "forgot the urge to smoke".

sounds exactly like me when I "forgot to smoke" after a "visit to the spirit world", approx 1 years ago.

Perhaps it doesn't have to be a stroke that makes people stop?

Try some aya instead?

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knowing this won't really help smokers right?

i mean, zyban takes the pleasure away from smoking but most smokers would prefer to stay smokers until cornered (in my case).

even if they do find some way to isolate and fix certain receptors in the brain via the insula, what kind of life would that be?

but yea, i'm a cynic :P i can see how learning about how the body deals with addiction would be a good thing.

However, dealing with addictions in this way cheapens the human experience and unless the addiction is having a serious effect on the person's life, I'll still opt for the natural alternative (even if it means dying prematurely).

I guess i don't trust the whitecoats enough to isolate the problem well enough such that it only targets nicotine (or any other substance for that matter).

Call me a conspiracy theorist but information like this in the hands of 'well-meaning' governments probably would lead to total substance experience removal from subjects.

Excellent article though, thanks for the heads up twix

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But some imaging studies have shown that the region is activated by drug-associated cues, such as the sight of people taking drugs, or drug-taking equipment such as spoons, syringes and "roll-up" paper.

Ahaha... Shit, I'm getting mine removed asap. Just the thought of a blood-filled syringe sends shivers down my spine

Edited by Chronik Fatigue

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do we know if Ibogaine affects the inula

I like the idea, there has to be some part of the brain that stores memory of the things that provide you pleasure. Maybe this is the memory storage device that ibogaine and aya wipes clean.

Interesting stuff.

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What a gem of a thread. I've been wanting to quit smoking for a while now, this is good news indeed.

Time to find some Ibogaine and aya !!

Thanx ppl :lol:

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mmm? apparently there is a vaccine out already, doesn't have anything to do with insula though.

source: Vice vaccines

NicVax and manufactured by Nabi Biopharmaceuticals in Boca Raton, Fla., works by attaching multiple nicotine molecules to a protein taken from Pseudomonas aeruginosa, a species of bacteria that occasionally infects people.

When a smoker lights up and draws the addictive drug into his or her bloodstream, antibodies glom on to individual nicotine molecules, explains Nabi scientist Henrik Rasmussen. As a result, the formerly tiny molecules morph into clumps made of nicotine and antibodies. Those clusters are far too big to cross the blood-brain barrier and stimulate the brain's feel-good centers, an action that normally cements nicotine's addictive power.

Still wondering about the repercussions of using a vaccine like this. Do these whitecoats really know enough to produce a 'cure' that targets ONLY the intended molecules?

And by the use of the term 'vaccine', i'm assuming this may be a lifelong permanent fix. how will say .... life be like with a vaccine for something the body has natural receptors for ? surely these receptors have a purpose, even if we don't know of any benefits of nicotine intake.

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The cure for all sorts of ills including cigarette smoking has been around for ages. A frontal lobotomy.

Who in their right mind would trust white coated goons with vaccines and procedures.

There's a Romanian saying that goes along the lines of... "if a bald person had a cure for baldness, then he'd put it on his own head (as opposed to trying to sell it to others)"

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There is soft tissue in the body that has nicotine receptors in it. I don't think there is a scientific explanation as to why they exist, but as they are in the liver or bladder or something (I forget) smoking a cigarette can cause you to want to go to take a dump.

Do we know how this vaccination will affect such bodily functions?

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There is soft tissue in the body that has nicotine receptors in it. I don't think there is a scientific explanation as to why they exist, but as they are in the liver or bladder or something (I forget) smoking a cigarette can cause you to want to go to take a dump.

Do we know how this vaccination will affect such bodily functions?

They're not actually 'nicotine receptors' but rather acetylcholine receptors and they are in fact present in all neuromuscular junctions. There are two types of acetyl-choline receptors however and one is called the 'nicotinic' type that responds to nicotine in addition to acetylcholine. The other type is the 'muscarinic type' interestingly which responds to 'muscarine' which was amazingly isolated first from the fly agaric mushroom (Amanita muscaria).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicotinic_ace...holine_receptor

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muscarinic_ac...holine_receptor

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Thanks, didn't know that.

Was aware of the two types of acetylcholine receptors, but wasn't aware that these were the thingos present in the body (rather than nicotine receptors).

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