Rajesh Narendran
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Neuroscience
Most people treated for cocaine or alcohol addiction relapse, often within a year. Two hidden brain processes may help explain why.
- Fields
Neuroscience
Medicine & Clinical Research
Pharmacology
- Topics
cocaine use disorder
alcohol use disorder
addiction
- Grants
- 3 known grants, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Test whether hydrocortisone-induced increases in NOP receptors, imaged with the PET tracer [11C]NOP-1A, are smaller in cocaine use disorder than in healthy controls and predict faster relapse over 12 weeks.
- Link midbrain NOP receptor levels to amphetamine-induced dopamine release in the ventral striatum, a reward region, in a subset of cocaine use disorder participants using PET.
- Test whether heavy-drinking alcohol use disorder participants show larger hydrocortisone-induced increases in amygdala [11C]NOP-1A binding than controls, consistent with an overactive anti-stress system.
- Determine whether the stress-induced NOP increase in heavy drinkers predicts relapse to alcohol during a 12-week contingency management program that pays participants to abstain.
- Compare mitochondrial Complex I, the first enzyme of the cell's energy-producing chain, in cocaine use disorder and controls using [18F]BCPP-EF PET, and relate it to relapse.
- Relate Complex I binding to orbitofrontal cortex glucose use measured by [18F]FDG PET to understand how the cocaine-exposed brain meets its energy needs.
More about the research
One is the brain's balance between systems that drive stress and systems that buffer it. The other is how well brain cells produce energy. Positron emission tomography (PET) can measure these processes in living people. It uses small amounts of radioactive tracers that bind specific brain molecules. The research uses PET in people with cocaine use disorder (CUD) or alcohol use disorder (AUD) and compares them with healthy controls. Participants are then followed for 12 weeks while they receive money for staying abstinent, a treatment called contingency management. This links brain measures to who relapses.
Why it matters
Documenting brain changes that lead to relapse could speed the development of medicines that prevent relapse in cocaine and alcohol use disorders. The NOP studies could indicate which patients, such as heavy drinkers, might benefit from drugs that block or activate NOP. The energy studies could point to mitochondrial function as a new target in cocaine addiction.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Does a hyperactive nociceptin opioid peptide receptor system promote relapse in heavy drinking AUD subjects: a [11C]NOP-1A and hydrocortisone PET study
NIH · May 2026 – Apr 2031
Imaging brain energy use in cocaine use disorder: a [F-18]BCPP-EF PET study
NIH · Aug 2026 – Jul 2028
PET Imaging of neurochemical transmission in cocaine use disorders
NIH · Sep 2009 – Jun 2027
Closest labs
Yasmin Zakiniaeiz
Yale University, CT·Neuroscience·Early-career
Measure baseline dopamine D2/3 receptor levels in the prefrontal cortex of men and women with alcohol use disorder and sex-matched controls, using PET imaging with the radiotracer [11C]FLB457.
Nelly Alia-Klein
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether asymptomatic individuals with cocaine use disorder show carotid artery atherosclerosis, using PET with the 18F-FDG tracer to quantify vessel-wall inflammation and 3D dark-blood MRI to measure plaque burden on a hybrid PET/MRI scanner.
Joy Schmitz
University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, TX·Medicine & Clinical Research
Test whether adding active rather than sham deep TMS with an H4 coil to contingency management raises abstinence, increases cocaine-negative urines and reduces craving in people who do not respond to contingency management alone.
The school
University of Pittsburgh: 83 labs on PI Pages, $1.5B a year on research, 403 research doctorates a year.
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