Scientists Modify Fruit Flies to Develop Cocaine Addiction

Swift Summary

• Scientists at the University of Utah engineered fruit flies that can develop cocaine addiction.
• Fruit flies share 70-75% of the same genes responsible for various diseases in humans, making them a valuable model for genetic studies.
• initially, fruit flies avoid cocaine due to their bitter taste receptors located on their legs (tarsal segments). Cocaine is recognized as a plant toxin by these receptors.
• Researchers bypassed this issue by deactivating the bitter-sensing nerves, enabling flies to prefer sugar water mixed with cocaine within 16 hours of exposure.
• Similar to humans, modified fruit flies exhibited hyperactivity at low doses and incapacitation at high doses of cocaine.
• The modified fruit fly model allows rapid study of hundreds of genes related to addiction mechanisms compared to mammalian models, aiding faster drug therapy progress.

🔗 Read more: University researchers explore fruit fly modeling

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Indian Opinion Analysis

This breakthrough in genetically modifying fruit flies to study addiction highlights how foundational research could lead to better comprehension and treatment options for substance abuse disorders, which have significant social and economic costs globally-including India. Since many Indians are vulnerable due to poverty-induced stress or lack of awareness about drug abuse consequences, efficient therapies could benefit affected communities immensely.

The scalability offered by using fruit flies shortens research timelines dramatically compared with mammalian models-a crucial advantage given the urgent need for innovative solutions in addiction treatment worldwide.

However, such advancements also raise ethical questions around genetic modification practices across different organisms and cultures-a discussion India will inevitably encounter if similar technologies are adopted locally or researched further within institutions here.

Understanding these biological mechanisms opens doors not only for combating drug abuse but also potentially enriching India’s bioscience sector if leveraged carefully toward therapeutic applications while maintaining compliance with ethical standards globally accepted frameworks​.