Paul Cocker, University of British Columbia
$30,000 over 2 years during the 2014 – 2016 research funding cycle
Project description:
“We want to develop a model of problem gambling and then see if we can tailor treatments to stop these pathological forms of gambling.”
For a small percentage of people with Parkinson’s disease, dopamine-replacement drugs used to treat stiffness, tremors, or rigidity can cause side effects like impulse control problems, including compulsive shopping, gambling, or hypersexuality. These behaviors have been difficult to treat without discontinuing medication.
At the University of British Columbia, graduate student Paul Cocker investigates whether blocking specific dopamine receptors in brain cells could alleviate these behaviors. Working in Dr. Catharine Winstanley’s lab, Cocker uses a rodent slot machine to study compulsive gambling. After administering medication that mimics dopamine-replacement drugs, Cocker found that rats, under its influence, couldn’t distinguish between winning and losing outcomes.
Cocker plans to give the rats a compound that blocks dopamine D4 receptors, which might be responsible for impulse control problems. If this alleviates the compulsive gambling behavior, the data could help researchers redesign dopamine-replacement drugs to avoid activating these receptors, or pharmacologists could develop an additional drug to block them.
“If we were able to show that problem gambling in this animal model was contingent on this one receptor, that might present a relatively easy fix,” says Cocker.
Receptors, like locks that brain chemicals fit into, initiate activity upon receiving dopamine signals. Blocking the D4 receptor could stop problem behaviors like gambling, shopping, or hypersexuality. Cocker, who has focused his research on decision-making and impulsivity, is intrigued by dopamine’s role in these behaviors. “If this works, I would want to see dopamine D4 receptor drugs explored as a treatment option,” he says.