By anesthetizing the insula, a region located deep in the brain that’s been linked to craving and desire, researchers at the Pontifica Universidad Catolica de Chile in Santiago were able to stop the addicted rats from seeking out more amphetamines, according to a report published in the journal Science.

The research adds to a study earlier this year that people with damage to the insula were able to quit smoking quickly and without withdrawal symptoms or relapse. The insula’s role in addiction is newly discovered and poorly understood, said Selena Bartlett, the director of the preclinical development group at the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco.

“We know it’s the part of the brain involved in motivation, so maybe these animals no longer have the motivation to seek the drug anymore,” Bartlett said in a telephone interview yesterday. She wasn’t involved in the study. “This is compelling and fits with the human subject data.”

Researchers placed rats, which prefer dark spaces, in boxes with a black area and a white area, connected by a brown hallway. Both areas provided a salt solution for the rats to drink. For some rats, the solution in the white area contained amphetamines. Rats in cages without the speed-laced nutrients spent most of their time in the black section, while rats exposed to amphetamines spent more time in the white area feeding their addictions.

Researchers then injected the addicted rats’ insulas with lidocaine, a commonly used anesthetic, which blocked the region’s neurons from firing. The rats once again preferred the black region, just as their drug-free peers did.

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