Researchers in South Korea believe that they can help treat gambling addiction by altering brain neurons. [Image: Shutterstock.com]

Gambling addiction levels are skyrocketing across the globe, and a new study in South Korea suggests the key to treating this affliction is by altering brain neurons. The Severance Hospital found that changing the shape of certain neurons can lower levels of neuronal excitability.

The team studied the impact of this treatment on mice, running an experiment whereby the animals had to choose a low-risk option that gave them small, consistent rewards versus the high-risk approach that would release big rewards just at a lower frequency.

researchers found differences in excitability levels between the two groups

They separated the mice into those that were more risk-averse and those that went for the higher payout alternative. After measuring the neurons, the researchers found differences in excitability levels between the two groups.

They then altered the neurons in the risk-averse mice to lower neuronal excitability, which resulted in them engaging in riskier behavior.

Professor Kim Jeon-hoon concluded that the “dendritic morphology and electrophysiological properties in the nucleus accumbens” are different depending on risk-taking behavior, and changing these structures could “modulate risk choices.”