A new study at UT Southwestern Medical Center is leading to the hypothesis that increasing the normally occurring process of making nerve cells in the brain may play a role in preventing relapses and perhaps even reduce the likelihood of addictions occurring.
The study’s findings, available in the Journal of Neuroscience, are the first to directly link addiction with the process, called neurogenesis, in the region of the brain called the hippocampus. Dr Inaba shares his perspective and insights.