Could a brain protein help keep smokers hooked?

摘要

Researchers have established the role of a brain protein dubbed "mu-opioid receptor" in human nicotine dependence. A commonly occurring form of a gene for the receptor is tied to the severity of nicotine dependence, withdrawal, and relapse. To determine the amount of receptor in brain regions implicated in dependence, Riju Ray et al. (pp. 9268-9273) per-