The effects of cocaine can be counteracted in mice by stimulating an enigmatic brain receptor, suggesting a possible target for addiction treatment. The CB, receptor in the brain has been implicated in drug addiction, but the role of the CB_2 receptor has not been clear. So Zheng-Xiong Xi and his team at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, Maryland, gave cocaine-addicted mice a compound that stimulates the CB_2 receptor. The animals self-administered cocaine less frequently, whereas no effect was seen in mice lacking the CB2 receptor.
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