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Meth exposure in young adults leads to long-term behavioral consequences
August 15, 2007Young adults who use methamphetamine may be more vulnerable to age-related brain degeneration when they grow older, new animal research suggests.
"The emergence of behavioral deficits in animals months after methamphetamine discontinuation may be relevant to human methamphetamine abusers," says Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute for Drug Abuse. "It suggests that even though their current use may not result in deficits, as they age these deficits will become manifest." Volkow did not participate in the study.
The new work examines the idea that methamphetamine puts young users at risk of developing deficits later in life that are symptomatic of Parkinson's disease in individuals with depletion of glial derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), a protein that protects and repairs dopamine in areas of the brain related to movement control. Loss of nerve cells that produce dopamine is a major factor in the disease.
In their work, published August 15 in The Journal of Neuroscience, Jacqueline McGinty, PhD, at the Medical University of South Carolina, and her colleagues examined the role of GDNF in mice. At 2.5 months of age, the equivalent of adolescence in humans, mice with a partial GDNF gene deletion were compared to mice without the gene deletion; both were given either methamphetamine or saline injections four times over an eight-hour period. McGinty's team discovered that the effects of this methamphetamine binge were exacerbated in the mice with the GDNF deletion. In addition, at 12 months, the GDNF-depleted mice moved significantly less than genetically normal mice treated with methamphetamine.
"Methamphetamine intoxication in any young adult may have deleterious consequences later in life, although they may not be apparent until many decades after the exposure," says McGinty. "These studies speak directly to the possibility of long-term public health consequences resulting from the current epidemic of methamphetamine abuse among young adults."
Future studies might involve identifying the reasons for increased vulnerability to methamphetamine in GDNF-depleted mice in order to help minimize the harm methamphetamine causes to the brain.
Society for Neuroscience
In their work, published August 15 in The Journal of Neuroscience, Jacqueline McGinty, PhD, at the Medical University of South Carolina, and her colleagues examined the role of GDNF in mice. At 2.5 months of age, the equivalent of adolescence in humans, mice with a partial GDNF gene deletion were compared to mice without the gene deletion; both were given either methamphetamine or saline injections four times over an eight-hour period. McGinty's team discovered that the effects of this methamphetamine binge were exacerbated in the mice with the GDNF deletion. In addition, at 12 months, the GDNF-depleted mice moved significantly less than genetically normal mice treated with methamphetamine.
"Methamphetamine intoxication in any young adult may have deleterious consequences later in life, although they may not be apparent until many decades after the exposure," says McGinty. "These studies speak directly to the possibility of long-term public health consequences resulting from the current epidemic of methamphetamine abuse among young adults."
Future studies might involve identifying the reasons for increased vulnerability to methamphetamine in GDNF-depleted mice in order to help minimize the harm methamphetamine causes to the brain.
Society for Neuroscience
Methamphetamine Current Events and Methamphetamine News RSSMethamphetamine abuse linked to underage sex, smoking and drinking
Teens who have never done drugs, but engage in other risky behaviours such as drinking, smoking and being sexually active, are more likely to use crystal meth, medical researchers at the University of Alberta have concluded.
Hope for treating relapse to methamphetamine abuse
A new study at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory suggests that vigabatrin (a.k.a. gamma vinyl-GABA, or GVG) blocks drug-seeking behavior in animals previously trained to associate methamphetamine with a particular environment.
Addiction treatment proves successful in animal weight loss study
Vigabatrin, a medication proposed as a potential treatment for drug addiction by scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory, also leads to rapid weight loss and reduced food intake according to a new animal study from the same research group.
Tests show LLNL detection instrument can monitor the air for all major terrorist threat substances
Security and law enforcement officials may some day have a new ally - a universal detection system that can monitor the air for virtually all of the major threat agents that could be used by terrorists.
Study finds link between amphetamine abuse and heart attacks in young adults
Young adults who abuse amphetamines may be at greater risk of suffering a heart attack, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.
Repeated methamphetamine use causes long-term adaptations in brains of mice, researchers find
Repeatedly stimulating the mouse brain with methamphetamine depresses important areas of the brain, and those changes can only be undone by re-introducing the drug, according to research at the University of Washington and other institutions.
Practice parameters discuss treatment for narcolepsy, other hypersomnias of central origin
Practice parameters published in the December 1 issue of the journal SLEEP serve as both an update of previous practice parameters for the therapy of narcolepsy and as the first practice parameters to address treatment of other hypersomnias of central origin, including idiopathic hypersomnia, recurrent hypersomnia and hypersomnia due to medical condition.
Club drugs inflict damage similar to traumatic brain injury
What do suffering a traumatic brain injury and using club drugs have in common"? University of Florida researchers say both may trigger a similar chemical chain reaction in the brain, leading to cell death, memory loss and potentially irreversible brain damage.
U of M study: Health food supplement may curb addiction of pathological gamblers
University of Minnesota researchers have discovered that a common amino acid, available as a health food supplement, may help curb pathological gamblers' addiction.
A drug-sensitive 'traffic cop' tells potassium channels to get lost
Our brains are buzzing with electrical activity created by sodium and potassium ions moving in and out of neurons through specialized pores. To prevent the constant chatter from descending into chaos the activity of these ion channels has to be tightly regulated.
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