Does cocaine permanently change brain structure?
Scientists at the University of Missouri are using computational models to show how the brain's synaptic mechanisms react to cocaine, which could help shape effective treatment.
(Credit: DEA)Cocaine addiction is notoriously tough to beat. Engineers at the University of Missouri in Columbia, using computational models, think they now better understand why.
"Our model showed that the glutamate transporters, a protein present around these connections that remove glutamate, are almost 40 percent less functional after chronic cocaine usage," says Ashwin Mohan, a doctoral student in the department of electrical and computer engineering. "This damage is long lasting, and there is no way for the brain to regulate itself. Thus, the brain structure in this context actually changes in cocaine addicts."
The team found that the parameters of the brain that activate the pleasure center's connections have to actually be changed in order for addicts to recover. In other words, recovery requires some level of rewiring. The computer model's prediction was confirmed based on experimental studies done on animal models.
"The long-term objective of our research is to find out how some rehabilitative drugs work by devising a model of the fundamental workings of an addict's brain," says Mohan. "Using a systems approach helped us to find key information about the addict's brain that had been missed in the past two decades of cocaine addiction research."
Around 2 million Americans are current (past-month) users of cocaine, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, while about 36 million Americans age 12 and older have reported having used cocaine.
Elizabeth Armstrong Moore is a freelance journalist based in Portland, Ore. She has contributed to Wired magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, and public radio. Her semi-obscure hobbies include unicycling, slacklining, hula-hooping, scuba diving, billiards, Sudoku, Magic the Gathering, and classical piano. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
There are millions of cocaine babies.
However, animal studies that measure the possible effects of antidepressant exposure during key periods of brain development report that those animal have decrease brain mass, and have long-term behavioral changes (increased fearfulness, distractability, sexual dysfunction).
Human studies assessing the effects of drugs on the developing fetus do not tend to cover the long-term problems the exposure may cause. Not only is it difficult to do that type of longitudinal study... you have to know what to measure.. and how to measure it.
Also.. just being premature makes you more likely to have things like asthma and learning difficulties.. so if that was the only affect of cocaine exposure.. it still has measurable long-term effects.
Let us also not forget that babes born from parents with drug addictions (including tobacco) are also born with liver impairments and other organ issues that hinder proper development. Almost all children born to a drug addict have low birth weight. Low birth weight is a common indicator of future problems, particularly learning difficulties and susceptibility to auto immune diseases (eg arthritis).
That is my 'ad-lib' scripture taken from the 'big book' of Alcoholics Anonymous. I doubt this type of treatment will go over well with old skoolers in the program.
Many 'cured' drug addicts suffer other issues associated with the former addiction such as fear of medication in general, which can lead to major issues in aiding their recovery. For example, medication is often required to stabilise brain chemistry post-addiction yet former addicts will fear simply being addicted to something else.
Coccain, like all amphetamines, works on brain chemistry itself and messes with either glutamate re-uptake systems and/or dopamine. This can actually permanently damage the feedback systems within the brain, including the capacity for the two hemispheres to communicate/relate - leading to diseases such as schitzophrenia. I've over simplified dramatically, but there is actually more than sufficient evidence out there to demonstrate that this family of drugs significantly damages brain chemistry in short and long term manners.
The vast majority of recovering addicts experience relapses, so it's safer to say that a person is in recovery than to say that they are "cured". It's also better for the individual addict to acknowledge that they are "powerless" over said addiction and avoid situations where they might be tempted to partake of their drug of choice.
Addiction is horrible to watch and, when the money/drugs/body can no longer sustain the glorious highs, it's also horrible to experience. Kudos to the researchers who are doing their part to combat this stain on society.
Neurologically though, I think one of the reasons the cocaine addiction is so tenacious is that, at the same time it's stimulating the pleasure centre by blocking dopamine re-absorption to the accumbens, it's doing the same thing to the hypocampus; which is basically responsible for turning short term memories into long term ones (or "notions into beliefs"). So the positive associations of using the drug become hard-wired beliefs - while the negative ones experienced during the "crash" have trouble taking hold because the hypocampus is just as dopamine deprived as the accumbens in that state.
I imagine this effect relates to long term alteration of brain structure in ex-addicts as the brain would in fact have to restructure itself to "learn" reasons not to continue using the drug without the benefit of normal brain function at some point - the same way that stroke victims can relearn lost skills previously housed in the damaged areas of the brain - but the neurological structure that new knowledge uses is of course different than it was before in them, or in someone who's brain was never damaged in that way.
Disclaimer though, I'm a computer programmer and systems architect, not a neurologist :-)
If we thought of the brain a bit more as a machine, a brillient chemically driven one, but a machine all the same, we'd not think twice of using chemicals correctively.
In addition, high dosages of marijuana, particularly if ingested rather than smoked, can lead to pyschotic events (including loss of self-recognition and delusions) that will of course exacerbate any form of damage from the coccain such as schitzophrenia.
Basically they are swapping one bad drug for another bad drug that many biased parties in society want to convince everyone isn't really that bad a drug. The 'marijuana isn't bad for you' crowd are biased and uninformed. I have no reason to be against marijuana, but the reality is that the evidence points to it being an extremely destructive drug.
In addition to all of this, the younger you are when you first have marijuana the worse the impact on the brain because the drug has been shown to physically hamper prefrontal cortex development, in which there is no recovery. That being said, recent studies have suggested that long periods of abstinence can make this impact minimal but the fact it is doing this at all should be sending off warning bells to everyone. Link to the recent, depressing yet more promising study re impacts: http://www.uc.edu/News/NR.aspx?ID=9011
One major impact of marijana use is poor judgement and lack of ability to empathise - this may explain why many marijana users justify use of the drug. I'd suggest that your friends should see a medical practicioner and seek advice on suitable medication and treatments to help with the very muddled brain chemistry they must currently suffer from. Check out CDC, NIDA, any medical journal on it - all say the same thing. Only those that want to smoke pot advocate for it. Even the medicinal applications of it are poor, such as for pain medication - analgesics are safer and more appropriate.
http://www.maps.org/news-letters/v06n1/06129ibo.html
We are taught in school that we are free and we are not we are the most regulated of all countries We have an extremely high rate of molestation ( an estimate I read said 25% of women molested report it and only 2.5% of men report it). The rate of false convictions is estimated at 67%. You can watch TV and see cops lie cheat and steal to get convictions.
The democratic and republican parties have held election hostage by limiting who can run and the independent party is hand cuff and shackled by the law and the media so they can,t win. If you see your parents goto work everyday and struggle just to make it and they can't why would you try to help the people who keep you down so kids turn to drugs and reject the govermental and corperate hiarkey
These people see this and know it is not right the brain washing does not take and there brains are crippled in dealing with it and because of these problems they turn to drugs to try to cope with everything life throws at them.
my question is - has this child's brain chemistry already been altered to the point of being at risk of addictive behavior ( or worse)due to inter uterine drug exposure? i wonder if i see signs of that and adhd or even bi-polar now - this early... i don't know....
now, the reason for the question - since i have been with her for over a year, she has exhibited behavior that seems at times - usually weekly sometimes every other week - to be behavior that would lead her to a natural endorphin rush - she creates emotional trauma (drama) to the point shes crying and can barely speak. she has a low thresh hold for frustration, usually she is very oppositional/ defiant about house rules that are for her safety, but it could be that any number of things are not right and nothing i nor her dad can do will make it right - she goes into time out and you think she'll never stop screaming and then she turns it off like a switch ( i have seen her openly manipulate others and smirk about it ....) she had one of these melt downs last week and after the crying fit she calmed down and seemed like she was on some kinda of high.... she was completely agreeable, acting appropriately, mellow and just happy..... i've been a psych nurse for 17 years, so i have been around mental illness and drug addiction - if i were looking at this in a an adult, i would swear she was doing this to herself just to get a high from it ...... her dad tells me her mom use to do similar things if she could not get drugs..... big emotional and/or physical blow up - then be very mellow and sedate afterwards...... when she 1st came to live with us she would self bite - enough to leave marks...we worked with her on this and does not do this anymore...but here again is this an example of SIB just to get and endorphin rush and get a high?
she's smart as a whip, communicates well,is small but is in the low margin of normal - has been tested to be developmentally average or better..... currently the child lives with her father and myself and has for over a year. initially mom had only supervised visits due to refusing drug treatment supervised by the courts and appeared during this time to 'be clean'. however, this past july, she over dosed on alcohol, cocaine and heroin..... very sad
this seemed like the best thread i could find to ask about this - i could not find anything specifically about this - any research or resources about this would be greatly appreciated thanks
- by sarahotmomof3 October 19, 2009 10:30 PM PDT
- Hello Spookyaction, I also have a 3 year old (adopted) son who was born addicted to heroin and cocaine. He exhibits the exact behaviors as your step daughter! I recently went to a presentation by a world renowned pediatrician that specializes in ADD. He said that the worst thing a parent in this situation can do is think that Love is the only thing that a child with this type of history needs. I will be taking my son to see him in a few weeks because I truly believe that his parents had psych diagnoses that were untreated and thus they self medicated as teenagers/adults......We are determined to stop that cycle with our son! I can't really answer your question but I just wanted to let you know you are not alone. Its uncanny how much your step daughters behavior seems like my son's behavior and whenever I research the topic, I cannot find very much information on the behavioral challenges faced. I just know that it is not typical because I have 2 other children, whom were all raised the same that do not have the same behaviors.
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