Cocaine and the serotonin saga

The responses of the knockout mice to cocaine now indicate that the neurotransmitter serotonin was involved in the processes that underlie vulnerability to cocaine addiction, and that it is — through this receptor at least.

Abstract

To devise ways to treat cocaine addiction, the cellular mechanisms behind that addiction have to be understood. One study goes some way to doing this by generating mice that lack the serotonin-1B receptor. Before this study, nobody could say for sure whether the neurotransmitter serotonin was involved in the processes that underlie vulnerability to cocaine addiction. But the responses of the knockout mice to cocaine now indicate that it is — through this receptor at least.