UBC scientists build slot machine for rats and learn how to curb their compulsive gambling

By Staff Reporter, The Province
OCTOBER 29, 2013

Lab rats at UBC have shown behaviour similar to that of compulsive gamblers, but researchers reduced it by blocking their dopamine D4 receptors.

At UBC, the lab rats do more than get shots — they play slots.

A team of University of B.C. brain researchers have been teaching the rodents to become high rollers, as they study solutions to problem gambling in rats.

The scientists set up little rat casinos to examine ways to reduce gambling behaviours in the animals, in hopes of providing answers for similar compulsive behaviours in humans.

Their research has been successful in reducing addictive gambling behaviours in rats using drugs that block dopamine D4 receptors. The scientists have reported their findings in a recent edition of Biological Psychiatry journal.

“Pathological gambling is increasingly seen as a behavioural addiction similar to drug or alcohol addiction, but we know comparatively little about how to treat problem gambling,” Paul Cocker, lead author of the study and a PhD student in UBC’s pyschology department, said in a statement.

“Our study is the first to show that by blocking these receptors we might be able to reduce the rewarding aspects of near-misses that appear to be important in gambling.”

The researchers had the animals work at a slot-machine style apparatus with flashing lights and levers where the rats gambled for sugar.

http://www.theprovince.com/health/scientists+build+slot+machine+rats+learn+curb+their+compulsive+gambling/9096872/story.html