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This week on Healthwatch, we're talking about the brain and nervous system. The body has an internal clock that regulates functions like sleeping, waking, body temperature, blood pressure and hormone levels. Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that the gene that controls the body clock also may play a role in drug addiction.
Dr. Colleen A. McClung, the UT Southwestern psychiatrist who led the study, says the clock gene also regulates the reward response to drugs like cocaine. The reward comes from a chemical called dopamine, which is released in response to rewarding activities. Researchers found that mice whose body clocks didn't seem to work properly so that they didn't sleep regularly got a much stronger chemical "reward" from cocaine.
Scientists plan more research on the link between circadian rhythms in human addicts.
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July 2005
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