They call it the βrat casino,β but in this case, itβs not a rundown gambling parlor in Atlantic City or some blighted corner of downtown Las Vegas.
Itβs a perfectly respectable laboratory in the psychology department at Miami University in Ohio. The researchers there are working to develop a drug to treat gambling addiction. But how, exactly, do you get rats to simulate the behavior of a desperate gambler pushing the button over and over again on a slot machine?
A team of psychologists led by Dr. Matthew McMurray has installed flashing lights and casino sounds just to give it a little ambience. The βgamblingβ rats are given two options: They can paw a lever and receive one sugary treat every time or they can touch another lever and receive three, but only some of the time. Researchers even modify the probability of the risky reward, just like some slot machines have better odds than others.
The healthy rodents get pretty good at making the optimal choices, but the stressed-out rats β those who had been put through a 15-day βstress paradigmβ in which they are subjected to unpleasant experiences meant to mirror the stressors of human life β take the riskier option far more regularly.
In a soon-to-be-published paper financed in part by biotech firm PsyBio Therapeutics, Miami University researchers will announce that the stressed-out lab rats showed better decision-making when they were treated with a derivative of psilocybin, the active ingredient in magic mushrooms.
The rats, by the way, donβt go on a trip. The hallucinogenic part has been chemically removed.
βIf we expose those rats to chronic stress, we see their decision-making gets bad. They prefer the risky option regardless of its probability, just like a gambling addict,β McMurray said. βWhen we treat those stressed animals with psilocybin, their decision making gets much better.β
Drugs part of solution to problem gambling?
Up to now,Β problem gambling treatment has been a mishmash of prevention, psychotherapy, and intervention β all extremely useful tools, particularly when combined with the increased visibility of responsible gambling practices. However, mental health workers in other addiction fields have found that pharmaceuticals can augment those efforts. While drugs such as Acamprosate and and Naltrexone have been developed to treat alcoholics or drug abusers, none of them has proven particularly effective to treat gambling addiction.
Thatβs where McMurray and his team at Miamiβs Institute for Responsible Gaming, Lotteries, and Sport come in. Former Ohio state Sen. Bill Coley was among the power brokers who helped get the institute off the ground in 2021 and remains involved.
βThe early studies are just fascinating,β Coley told Sports Handleβs Matt Rybaltowski at a recent conference. βPeople who are on that drug choose the delayed gratification because of the longer-term benefit.β
While the psilocybin treatment option is not yet cleared for human testing, McMurray said heβs hopeful it could be in a matter of months.
Oxytocin treatments also being evaluated
Miami researchers have found that chemical derivatives of the hormone oxytocin also have shown promise in treating gambling addiction.
Oxytocin derivatives are used for a variety of treatments, including for autism and schizophrenia as well as to help new mothers with lactation and to induce delivery in pregnant women. Oxytocinβs ability to crowd out the effects of another hormone, dopamine, on the brain seems to be part of the mechanism.
βWhen youβre gambling, if you win that slot machine spin and you get the big payout, you get this huge surge in dopamine. What we think is happening is the oxytocin derivative is tempering the huge surge, so the highs are a little lower,β McMurray said. βIn people with gambling disorders, the resting dopamine levels are really low. Normal things arenβt as rewarding. Their day-to-day happiness isnβt as strong as it was before. They need those big hits to get their dopamine levels up.β
McMurray said corporate support will be crucial in getting physicians to prescribe the oxytocin treatments or to push the psilocybin treatments into clinical trials. He estimates it will be at least three years before psilocybin-based treatments are available for gambling addicts.
βWe need companies to take drugs into this new marketplace, especially with the psilocybin-based therapies,β McMurray said. βDepending on the level of corporate involvement, it could be anywhere from a year to 20 years. I really have no idea. But we need new forms of treatment for this very complex disease.β