Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Model For Clinical Addiction Treatment

Authors

Jordan Davies, Brigham Young University
Dr. Scott Steffensen, Brigham Young University

Keywords

brain stimulation, clinical addiction treatment, light stimulation, dopamine neurons

College

Family, Home, and Social Sciences

Department

Neuroscience

Abstract

The goal in my proposal was to study the effects of light stimulation in human brains on the action of the neurotransmitter dopamine (DA) within the nucleus accumbens (NAc), in order to determine its efficacy as a non-invasive method for inducing long-term potentiation of dopamine neurons, restoring homeostasis, and its possible use in clinical treatment for addiction. It was dependent upon research that was being done on mice in Dr. Steffensen’s lab to determine the optimum frequency and wavelength of light stimulation to bring baseline dopamine levels back up to normal. Unfortunately, there haven’t been any conclusive results that merit moving the principles onto human testing. In order to avoid unethical and inappropriate testing, we had to shift our focus to a different, but similar project.

Recommended Citation

Davies, Jordan and Steffensen, Dr. Scott (2013) "Non-invasive Brain Stimulation Model For Clinical Addiction Treatment," Journal of Undergraduate Research: Vol. 2013: Iss. 1, Article 362.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/jur/vol2013/iss1/362