Why is Valium Addictive?

Scientists understood why people get addicted to a class of prescription drugs that includes Valium, along with other antidepressants, muscle relaxants and sleeping pills.

The findings, reported in the British science journal Nature, open a path to developing new treatments that can ease symptoms without causing dependence, the researchers hope.

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Opium, heroin and cannabinoids are addictive because they activate a neural circuit that boosts levels of a reward-giving brain chemical called dopamine.

The molecular pathway they use to unleash the dopamine is well known.

Benzodiazepines -- which include Valium, Xanax, Librium, Ambien and other well-known drugs -- likewise stimulate the dopamine system, but until now how they did this was unclear.

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In a series of experiments on mice, a team led by Christian Luscher at the University of Geneva say they have solved the mystery.

Benzodiazepines switch on a intermediary neurotransmitter known as gamma-aminobutyric acid, or GABA, increase dopamine levels, resulting in the signature craving of addiction, they found.

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The pathway that has been uncovered does not have an effect on benzodiazepines' therapeutic effects.

As a result, it should be possible to design new drugs that deliver the same benefits but without inducing addiction, said the researchers.

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The work "is a landmark for the field," noted Arthur Riegel and Peter Kalivas of the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

"These authors are the first to identify a molecular mechanism contributing to benzodiazepine abuse," the pair wrote in a commentary, also in Nature.

Source-AFP
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