Brain on Meth...

chas smith R.I.P. · Post by **chas smith R.I.P.** » 20 Jul 2004 7:28 pm

This Is Your Brain on Meth: A Forest Fire of Damage

July 20, 2004
By SANDRA BLAKESLEE

People who do not want to wait for old age to shrink their
brains and bring on memory loss now have a quicker
alternative - abuse methamphetamine for a decade or so and
watch the brain cells vanish into the night.

The first high-resolution M.R.I. study of methamphetamine
addicts shows "a forest fire of brain damage," said Dr.
Paul Thompson, an expert on brain mapping at the University
of California, Los Angeles. "We expected some brain changes
but didn't expect so much tissue to be destroyed."

The image, published in the June 30 issue of The Journal of
Neuroscience, shows the brain's surface and deeper limbic
system. Red areas show the greatest tissue loss.

The limbic region, involved in drug craving, reward, mood
and emotion, lost 11 percent of its tissue. "The cells are
dead and gone," Dr. Thompson said. Addicts were depressed,
anxious and unable to concentrate.

The brain's center for making new memories, the
hippocampus, lost 8 percent of its tissue, comparable to
the brain deficits in early Alzheimer's. The
methamphetamine addicts fared significantly worse on memory
tests than healthy people the same age.

The study examined 22 people in their 30's who had used
methamphetamine for 10 years, mostly by smoking it, and 21
controls matched for age. On average, the addicts used an
average of four grams a week and said they had been high on
19 of the 30 days before the study began.

Methamphetamine is an addictive stimulant made in
clandestine laboratories nationwide. When taken by mouth,
snorted, injected or smoked, it produces intense pleasure
by releasing the brain's reward chemical, dopamine. With
chronic use, the brains that overstimulate dopamine and
another brain chemical, serotonin, are permanently
compromised.

The study held one other surprise, Dr. Thompson said: white
matter, composed of nerve fibers that connect different
areas, was severely inflamed, making the addicts' brains 10
percent larger than normal. "This was shocking," he said.
But there was one piece of good news: the white matter was
not dead. With abstinence, it might recover.
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/20/science/20meth.html?ex=1091381048&ei=1&en=201d8e21a492b1cf

Ray Minich · Post by **Ray Minich** » 20 Jul 2004 7:36 pm

There was an article in the New York Times magazine section several years ago that compared the results you describe above to what was observed in Viet Nam vets who had been under fire and suffered from Stress Syndrome. The synapses are shot. Dopamine uptake was permanently impared. [This message was edited by Ray Minich on 20 July 2004 at 08:37 PM.]

Rich Weiss · Post by **Rich Weiss** » 20 Jul 2004 9:01 pm

Chas, what're you trying to tell us?

Eric West · Post by **Eric West** » 20 Jul 2004 9:44 pm

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:<HR>With
chronic use, the brains that overstimulate dopamine and
another brain chemical, serotonin, are permanently
compromised.<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yeah, well they said that sniffing airplane glue would destroy mine...

Hmmm.....

EJL[This message was edited by Eric West on 20 July 2004 at 10:44 PM.]

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 20 Jul 2004 10:59 pm

Genius is pain!
Ignorance is bliss!