# Establishing the Neurostructural and Clinical Impact of Brain Iron Dysregulation in Cocaine Use Disorder

> **NIH NIH R21** · MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA · 2020 · $224,250

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY
 Cocaine use disorder (CUD) is among the few substance use disorders without an effective
pharmacotherapy. One hypothesized mechanism contributing to the intransigence of CUD is the dysregulation
of brain iron homeostasis. Iron homeostasis is a critical biological mechanism that has been largely overlooked
in addiction research. Corroborating a previous report, our group recently demonstrated that brain iron is
significantly elevated in non-treatment seeking individuals with CUD. However, while elevated brain iron has
been associated with cognitive decline in aging and disease severity in neurodegenerative diseases, the
neurobiological and clinical relevance in CUD remain unknown. The goal of this project is to establish the impact
of brain iron dysregulation in CUD.
 We propose to investigate whether elevated brain iron in CUD contributes to disease severity as defined
by measures that have been associated with poor treatment outcome: aberrant neural microstructure within the
executive control and limbic arousal neural networks and behavioral and cognitive deficits. We will accomplish
this utilizing advanced, quantitative MRI methods that are sensitive and specific for brain iron and neural
microstructure, in which our group has particular expertise, focusing on cognitive measures consistently found
as aberrant in CUD. The overall hypothesis of this project is that, by increasing the risk of oxidative damage and
cell death, excess buildup of brain iron in CUD contributes to compromised neural microstructure within brain
networks implicated in the disorder and are associated with behavioral and cognitive deficits in executive control
and reward-based decision making. Demonstrating the adverse impact of elevated brain iron in CUD would
establish brain iron dysregulation as a promising therapeutic target for future studies of CUD.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10056480
- **Project number:** 1R21DA050085-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
- **Principal Investigator:** JENS H JENSEN
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $224,250
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-07-15 → 2022-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10056480

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10056480, Establishing the Neurostructural and Clinical Impact of Brain Iron Dysregulation in Cocaine Use Disorder (1R21DA050085-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-23 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10056480. Licensed CC0.

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