Grant: CIHR Fellowship

In recent years, North America has been facing a prescription painkiller crisis. This class of drug, called opioids, includes morphine, codeine and even heroin. Recent statistics suggest that 1 million Canadians currently suffer from opioid addiction and the annual cost to our health care system is estimated at 8 million dollars. At the moment, there is no efficient treatment and the only therapies available are replacement therapies, in which a less active opioid is administered to prevent the expression of withdrawal symptoms and drug seeking. Addiction is a state defined by compulsive engagement in naturally rewarding behavior or drug use, despite adverse consequences. One of the main challenges in treating people suffering from addiction is enabling them to control drug craving or the impulse driving the consumption. Over the years, Danio rerio (zebrafish) has become an excellent tool to study mental health disorders, due to the their high physiological resemblance and genetic homology to humans. Zebrafish has been previously shown to exhibit characteristics of addiction to different drugs including opioids. We have developed an assay using zebrafish to gain insight in the biological pathways controlling drug craving. Our assay can measure drug craving and we will test different small chemical molecules to identify those that block drug seeking. We will then study the biological effect of these molecules. This assay will allow us to identify important biological pathways regulating drug craving and could lead to the development of new therapeutic molecules to treat addiction.