In a scientific article published today, researchers at the University of the Philippines (UP) Manila found that solvents abused by adolescents increase drug-seeking and impair social functions and decision-making abilities in an animal model. These harmful effects last long after stopping the drug, increasing the risk of relapse.

Using rats to study addiction is a new approach in the Philippines, and allows investigation of the effects of addictive drugs on the brain. “Addiction is a brain disorder and it is reversible,” says Dr. Rohani Cena-Navarro, the head of the Addiction Neuroscience Program at the UP National Institutes of Health (NIH). Cena-Navarro’s laboratory is the first in the world to study the long-lasting effects of inhaled solvents in both male and female rats. This paper represents three years of work by her team which includes MD-PhD scholars Joannes Luke Asis and Ajina Carampel, and collaborators at UP Diliman and National Center for Mental Health.

Photo: Neuroscientist Rohani Cena-Navarro of UP Manila, who studies solvent addiction using a rat model.

The team is now assessing low-cost treatments to help young people overcome addiction to solvents and lead healthy lives. The work has been funded by the Philippine government through the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Health Research and Development. The article appears today in the journal Psychopharmacology, and can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-024-06731-5. 

Contact information: 

Dr. Rohani Cena-Navarro

rbcena@up.edu.ph

+63 917 716 4937 (mobile)