An Italian researcher working in the United States has discovered the mechanism whereby the brain of a drug addict forms a sort of 'memory' that keeps him at risk of relapse for years.
The discovery has been published in the journal Neuron, where it is described as the ''first basic mechanism underlying withdrawal symptoms and the ease of relapse''.
The author of the study is Antonello Bonci, a Rome university graduate who has been at the University of California in San Francisco since 1998.
''This fundamental mechanism,'' Bonci told ANSA, ''will not only suggest new anti-addiction strategies but also serve as a warning to all the youngsters who think they will be able to handle drugs''.
''They must know that because of this memory they will easily remain slaves to addiction and susceptible to relapse''.
Bonci made his breakthrough by studying the effects of cocaine on mice.
He noted the formation of a ''boosted'' memory which lasts longer than hitherto thought: in the case of mice several months, the equivalent of many years in humans.
The memory is created in one of the main brain centres essential for the development of addiction, Bonci said.
