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Our People
The IRP is served by the best and brightest in the scientific community. Find out more about the scientists striving to solve the puzzles of drug addiction and its effects on the human brain.
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Our Research
The research of the Intramural Research Program is supported at the molecular, genetic, cellular, animal, and clinical levels and is conceptually integrated, highly innovative, and focused on major problems in the field of drug addiction research.
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Our Organization
Intramural Research Program (IRP) of the National Institute on Drug Abuse is dedicated to innovative research on basic mechanisms that underlie drug abuse and dependence, and to develop new methods for the treatment of drug abuse and dependence.
Dr. Stephen Heishman
Associate Director for Education & Training
and Summer Student training
opportunities available!
Dr. Jean Lud Cadet
Associate Director for Diversity and Outreach
Fellowship for Diversity
in Research available!
Author Xia Liang from this month's paper.
MAY: Coupling of functional connectivity and regional cerebral blood flow reveals a physiological basis for network hubs of the human brain
PNAS January 29, 2013 vol. 110 no. 5 1929-1934
Xia Liang, Qihong Zou, Yong He, and Yihong Yang
Human brain functional networks contain a few densely connected hubs that play a vital role in transferring information across regions during resting and task states. However, the relationship of these functional hubs to measures of brain physiology, such as regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), remains incompletely understood. Here, we used functionalMRI data of blood-oxygenation-level–dependent and arterial-spin–labeling perfusion contrasts to investigate the relationship between functional connectivity strength (FCS) and rCBF during resting and an N-back working-memory task....
A figure from this month's Review
APRIL: Psychoactive "bath salts": Not so soothing
Recently there has been a dramatic rise in the abuse of so-called bath salts products that are purchased as legal alternatives to illicit drugs like cocaine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Baths salts contain one or more synthetic derivatives of the naturally-occurring stimulant cathinone. Low doses of bath salts produce euphoria and increase alertness, but high doses or chronic use can cause serious adverse effects such as hallucinations, delirium, hyperthermia and tachycardia. Owing to the risks posed by bath salts, the governments of many countries have made certain cathinones illegal, namely: 4-methylmethcathinone (mephedrone), 3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone (methylone) and 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV)....
Figure describing this paper's research.
Rescuing cocaine-induced prefrontal cortex hypoactivity prevents compulsive cocaine seeking
Nature 496, 359 362 (18 April 2013) doi:10.1038/nature12024
Billy T. Chen, Hau-Jie Yau, Christina Hatch, Ikue Kusumoto-Yoshida, Saemi L. Cho, F. Woodward Hopf, and Antonello Bonci
Loss of control over harmful drug seeking is one of the most intractable aspects of addiction, as human substance abusers continue to pursue drugs despite incurring significant negative consequences. Human studies have suggested that deficits in prefrontal cortical function and consequential loss of inhibitory control could be crucial in promoting compulsive drug use. However, it remains unknown whether chronic drug use compromises cortical activity and, equally important, whether this deficit promotes compulsive cocaine seeking....
NIH Director's Blog Highlights this Paper (off-site link to NIH)
Authors from this month's paper.
APRIL: Optogenetic Inhibition of Dorsal Medial Prefrontal Cortex Attenuates Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Palatable Food Seeking in Female Rats
JNeurosci 2 January 2013, 33(1): 214-226; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2016-12.2013
Donna J. Calu, Alex B. Kawa, Nathan J. Marchant, Brittany M. Navarre, Mark J. Henderson, Billy Chen, Hau-Jie Yau, Jennifer M. Bossert, Geoffrey Schoenbaum, Karl Deisseroth, Brandon K. Harvey, Bruce T. Hope, and Yavin Shaham
Relapse to maladaptive eating habits during dieting is often provoked by stress. Recently, we identified a role of dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) neurons in stress-induced reinstatement of palatable food seeking in male rats. It is unknown whether endogenous neural activity in dorsal mPFC drives stress-induced reinstatement in female rats....
Figure describing this paper's research.
Risk-Responsive Orbitofrontal Neurons Track Acquired Salience
Neuron 2013 Jan 23; Volume 77, Issue 2, 251-258
Masaaki Ogawa, Matthijs A.A. van der Meer, Guillem R. Esber, Domenic H. Cerri, Thomas A. Stalnaker, and Geoffrey Schoenbaum
Decision making is impacted by uncertainty and risk (i.e., variance). Activity in the orbitofrontal cortex, an area implicated in decision making, covaries with these quantities. However, this activity could reflect the heightened salience of situations in which multiple outcomes reward and reward omission are expected. To resolve these accounts, rats were trained to respond to cues predicting 100%, 67%, 33%, or 0% reward. Consistent with prior reports, some orbitofrontal neurons fired differently in anticipation of uncertain (33% and 67%) versus certain (100% and 0%) reward....
View the Video Abstract (off-site link to YouTube)
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The National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the principal biomedical and behavioral research agency of the United States Government. NIH is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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