14 DAY TRIAL // According to evidence at hand, a naturally occurring compound could help make it easier for people to kick the habit of abusing marijuana, a paper published in yesterday's issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience argues.
The compound in question is known to the scientific community as kynurenic acid. Scientists say that it is produced in the body whenever a chemical, i.e. tryptophan, present in bananas and turkey meat, is broken down.
Investigations have shown that kynurenic acid can effectively block the surge of dopamine that occurs as a result of marijuana consumption. By doing so, it is expected to help treat marijuana abuse.
Live Science tells us that, whenever people consume said drug, THC, i.e. the active ingredient in it, causes the brain to be flooded by dopamine, also known as the feel-good chemical.
Experiments carried out on rats and squirrel monkeys have shown that kynurenic acid can effectively block THC receptors in the brain's ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens, therefore keeping the brain from being taken over by dopamine.
Unlike other treatments for marijuana dependence currently available for people who wish to kick the habit, the use of kynurenic acid is expected to have fewer side effects, simply because this compound is a naturally occurring one.
What's more, researchers say that, even if side effects do occur, odds are that they will be less severe than those documented in the case of other treatment options. Lastly, said compound is expected to also drastically reduce the risk of relapsing.
“Any drug of abuse has to do with dopamine. We found out few years ago that kynurenic acid controls dopamine. All we had to do was put those things together,” said researcher Robert Schwarcz with the University of Maryland.
“We found that you can reduce dopamine levels and the animals behave differently — they don't have relapse, and don't abuse marijuana,” he added.
The researchers who worked on this project wish to carry out further investigations and determine whether or not kynurenic acid can treat marijuana dependence in humans as effective as it does in rats and squirrel monkeys.