The long term neurological changes and damage from chronic use of
either Alcohol or Cocaine are legion.

Many changes contribute to relapse.
Many changes contribute to VERY LONG protracted withdrawals.

How / what do you use to fix the brains of recovering Alcohol and
Cocaine users?

(Too many studies on how these drugs 'break' the brain follow.)

My question is - how do we heal these broken brains?

- Zevon

From: PMID: 16055761 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

"CONCLUSIONS: Cellular adaptations in prefrontal glutamatergic
innervation of the accumbens promote the compulsive character of drug
seeking in addicts by decreasing the value of natural rewards,
diminishing cognitive control (choice), and enhancing glutamatergic
drive in response to drug-associated stimuli."

 Albertson DN, Schmidt CJ, Kapatos G, Bannon MJ.
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              ****  Distinctive Profiles of Gene Expression in the
Human Nucleus Accumbens Associated with Cocaine and Heroin Abuse.
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2006 May 3; [Epub ahead of print]
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 Dalley JW, Laane K, Pena Y, Theobald DE, Everitt BJ, Robbins TW.
ABSTRACT:
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withdrawn from intravenous self-administration of cocaine or heroin.
Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2005 Nov;182(4):579-87. Epub 2005 Oct 19
PMID: 16047195

 Zhang D, Zhang L, Tang Y, Zhang Q, Lou D, Sharp FR, Zhang J, Xu M.
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expression changes through the dopamine D1 receptors.
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excitability of pyramidal neurons in the rat medial prefrontal cortex.
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15574686

 Liu J, Yu B, Orozco-Cabal L, Grigoriadis DE, Rivier J, Vale WW,
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corticotropin-releasing factor2 receptor-mediated depression to
facilitation of glutamatergic transmission in the lateral septum.
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 Tang W, Wesley M, Freeman WM, Liang B, Hemby SE.
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subunits during binge cocaine self-administration and withdrawal in
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Gene, HomoloGene, UniGene, Nucleotide, Protein, GEO Profiles
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 Backes E, Hemby SE.
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              ****  Molecular profiling of midbrain dopamine regions
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 Canales JJ, Capper-Loup C, Hu D, Choe ES, Upadhyay U, Graybiel AM.
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 Letchworth SR, Nader MA, Smith HR, Friedman DP, Porrino LJ.
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binding site density as a result of cocaine self-administration in
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 Cha XY, Pierce RC, Kalivas PW, Mackler SA.  , UniGene, Nucleotide,
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 Prasad BM, Sorg BA, Ulibarri C, Kalivas PW.
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              ****  Sensitization to stress and psychostimulants.
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Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1995 Dec 29;77 617-25 PMID: 8597435

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 Giralt MT, Garcia-Sevilla JA.
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Eur J Pharmacol. 1989 May 30;164(3):455-66 PMID: 2569977

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 Floyd DW, Friedman DP, Daunais JB, Pierre PJ, Grant KA, McCool BA.
ABSTRACT:   *** Long-term ethanol self-administration by cynomolgus
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              ****  [Possible alterations in brain neural network by
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Nihon Arukoru Yakubutsu Igakkai Zasshi. 2004 Feb;39(1):51-60. Review.
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 Valdez GR, Roberts AJ, Chan K, Davis H, Brennan M, Zorrilla EP, Koob
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anxiety-like behavior during acute ethanol withdrawal and protracted
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 Zahniser NR, Doolen S.  , Cited in PMC, Cited in Books
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neurotransmitter transporters: drugs, substrates, presynaptic
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glucose utilization in alcohol-preferring rats.
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 Fadda F, Cocco S, Stancampiano R, Rossetti ZL.
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neither spatial nor passive avoidance learning, nor hippocampal
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dimorphic effect on daily water consumption in prepubertal and adult
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Harper CG.
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