Skip to Content
800-533-8762
  • Careers
  • Newsroom
  • Health Care Professionals
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
UPMC
  • Find a Doctor
  • Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
    • Frequently Searched Services
      Allergy & Immunology Behavioral & Mental Health Cancer Ear, Nose & Throat Endocrinology Gastroenterology Heart & Vascular Imaging Neurosciences Orthopaedics
      Physical Rehabilitation Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery Primary Care Senior Services Sports Medicine Telemedicine Transplant Surgery Walk-In Care Weight Management Women’s Health
      See all Services
    • Services by Region
    • Find a UPMC health care facility close to you quickly by browsing by region.
      UPMC in Western Pa. Western Pa. and New York
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Services
  • Locations
    • Locations by Type
    • Locations by Type
      UPMC hospitals
      Hospitals
      Physical Therapy
      Physical Therapy
      Urgent care
      Walk-In Care
      UPMC Outpatient Centers
      Outpatient Centers
      UPMC Imaging Services
      Imaging
      Community Health Centers
      Community Health Centers
      See All Locations
    • Locations by Region
    • Locations by Region
      UPMC in Southwest Pa. Southwest Pa.
      UPMC in North Central Pa. North Central Pa.
      UPMC in Northwest Pa and Ny. Northwest Pa. & Western N.Y.
      UPMC in West Central Pa. West Central Pa.
      UPMC in Central Pa. Central Pa.
      UPMC in Western Md. Maryland & West Virginia
    • See All Locations
  • Patients & Visitors
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
      Patients and Visitors Resources Pay a Bill Classes & Events Medical Records Health Library Patient Information
      Patient Portals Privacy Information Shared Decision Making Traveling Patients Visitor Information
      Man uses mobile phone
      Pay a Bill
      Nurse reviews medical chart
      Request Medical Records
  • Patient Portals
  • Find Covid-19 updates
  • Schedule an appointment
  • Request medical records
  • Pay a bill
  • Learn about financial assistance
  • Find classes & events
  • Send a patient an eCard
  • Make a donation
  • Volunteer
  • Read HealthBeat blog
  • Explore UPMC Careers
Skip to Content
UPMC
  • Patient Portals
  • For Patients & Visitors
    • Find a Doctor
    • Locations
    • Patient & Visitor Resources
    • Pay a Bill
    • Services
    • More
      • Medical Records
      • Financial Assistance
      • Classes & Events
      • HealthBeat Blog
      • Health Library
  • About UPMC
    • Why UPMC
    • Facts & Stats
    • Supply Chain Management
    • Community Commitment
    • More
      • Financials
      • Support UPMC
      • UPMC Apps
      • UPMC Enterprises
      • UPMC International
  • For Health Care Professionals
    • Physician Information
    • Resources
    • Education & Training
    • Departments
    • Credentialing
  • Careers
  • Contact Us
  • Newsroom
  • UPMC >
  • Media Relations >
  • News Releases >
  • 012219 Cocaine Relapse
Media Relations
News Releases
Central Pa. News
North Central Pa. News
Contact Us
Experts
Community-Focused News
Media Kits
Media RSS
Media Relations
News Releases
Central Pa. News
North Central Pa. News
Contact Us
Experts
Community-Focused News
Media Kits
Media RSS

Chat Keywords List

  • cancel or exit: Stops your conversation
  • start over: Restarts your current scenario
  • help: Shows what this bot can do
  • terms: Shows terms of use and privacy statement
  • feedback: Give us feedback
Continue
Chat with UPMC
RESTART
MENU
CLOSE

Erasing Cocaine-Cue Memories Could Help Prevent Relapse

For Journalists

Ashley Trentrock
Director
412-586-9776
trentrockar@upmc.edu

Want to Make an Appointment or Need Patient Information?
Contact UPMC at

1-800-533-8762.

Go to Find a Doctor to search for a UPMC doctor.

2 NEW PITT HS

1/22/2019

Cocaine abstract featurePITTSBURGH – Forty to 60 percent of all people treated for substance use disorders relapse, presenting a major challenge to treatment success. New research from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine shows that disrupting memories that associate environmental cues with drug use significantly reduces drug seeking behaviors in rats, opening a potential avenue for developing more effective therapies to prevent relapse. 

 

Since Pavlov discovered classical conditioning in dogs in the 1890s, it has long been recognized that the brain associates specific cues with behaviors, like the smell of freshly brewed coffee making you want to drink a cup, or the sight of a snake inducing a heightened fear response. Breaking the links between cues and memories is a well-known strategy in treating phobias, addiction and PTSD. 

 

But this method – commonly known as ‘exposure therapy’ – is not very effective at treating addiction. The reason? Context matters. While exposure therapy might have some effect in a controlled setting such as a doctor’s or therapist’s office, the moment a person suffering from addiction is faced with the cue in the outside world, the brain fires off the same neurons connected to drug-seeking behavior. 

 

“While we’ve always known that the brain forms these cue-associated memories, the specific circuits have never been clearly identified,” said Mary Torregrossa, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry at Pitt’s School of Medicine and senior author of the study, published today in Cell Reports. “We’ve found a central piece in the cue-memory puzzle, and we also show that taking out that piece in a substance use scenario can help reverse relapse-like behaviors.” 

 

In the study, the scientists used a rat model of cue-associated relapse. When rats pressed a lever, they received an infusion of cocaine, accompanied by a tone and a light. With training, the rats learned to associate the audiovisual cue with the cocaine high, and exhibited drug-seeking behavior analogous to craving, repeatedly pressing the lever. 

 

The researchers also simulated exposure therapy in the rats, showing that repeatedly playing the tone and light without providing the cocaine infusion eventually reduced drug-seeking behavior. But much like in humans, exposure therapy in the rats did not work well if they were placed in a different environment.

 

Using electrical recordings from rat brain tissue, Torregrossa and her team first showed that connections between the medial geniculate nucleus – the brain’s switchboard for sound – and the lateral amygdala are important for forming memories that associate the cocaine high with external cues. 

 

“It made sense to us because the amygdala is where emotional memories are formed,” said Matthew Rich, a graduate student in Torregrossa’s lab and the first author of the study. “It receives sensory input and associates that input with what we feel when the cues are presented to us.”

 

To show a causal connection between these cue-associated memories and drug-seeking behavior, the researchers used a technique known as optogenetics, where light pulses are used to control genetically modified cells, to control the neurons from the previous experiment. Rats that had the cocaine-cue memories optogenetically erased pressed the lever significantly fewer times when the light and tone cue were played. 

 

Importantly, the reduced relapse behavior persisted even when the rats were placed in a different environment, suggesting that eliminating cue-associated memories overcomes the relapse-inducing effects of a new environment.

 

“In the long term, these findings may help us develop drugs or approaches like deep brain stimulation to specifically target these memories strengthened by substance use and improve the success of exposure therapy to prevent relapse,” said Torregrossa.

 

Yanhua Huang, Ph.D., of Pitt was an additional author on this study.

 

The study was funded by National Institutes of Health grants K01DA031745, R01DA042029, DA035805, F31DA039646, T32031111, and the Pennsylvania Department of Health.

 


PHOTO INFO: (click image for larger version)

CREDIT: Adapted from Rich, T.M., et al Cell Reports/Mary Torregrossa 

CAPTION: Illustration of the rat brain circuit connections responsible for forming memories that associate cocaine use with external cues. 

UPMC
200 Lothrop Street Pittsburgh, PA 15213

412-647-8762 800-533-8762

Patients And Visitors
  • Find a Doctor
  • Locations
  • Pay a Bill
  • Patient & Visitor Resources
  • Disabilities Resource Center
  • Services
  • Medical Records
  • No Surprises Act
  • Price Transparency
  • Financial Assistance
  • Classes & Events
  • Health Library
Health Care Professionals
  • Physician Information
  • Resources
  • Education & Training
  • Departments
  • Credentialing
Newsroom
  • Newsroom Home
  • Inside Life Changing Medicine Blog
  • News Releases
About
  • Why UPMC
  • Facts & Stats
  • Supply Chain Management
  • Community Commitment
  • Financials
  • Supporting UPMC
  • HealthBeat Blog
  • UPMC Apps
  • UPMC Enterprises
  • UPMC Health Plan
  • UPMC International
  • Nondiscrimination Policy
Life changing is...
Follow UPMC
  • Contact Us
  • Website/Email Terms of Use
  • Medical Advice Disclaimer
  • Privacy Information
  • Active Privacy Alerts
  • Sitemap
© 2025 UPMC I Affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Schools of the Health Sciences Supplemental content provided by Healthwise, Incorporated. To learn more, visit healthwise.org
Find Care
Providers
Video Visit
Portal Login