Brain region recovery possible in former methamphetamine
Adaptive changes in chemical activity in certain regions of the brain of former methamphetamine
users who have not used the drug for a year or more suggest some recovery of neuronal structure and function,
according to an article authored by UC Davis Health System researchers in the April issue of Archives
of General Psychiatry.
Methamphetamine use has been shown to cause abnormalities in brain regions associated with selective
attention and regions associated with memory.
Using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, Thomas E. Nordahl, psychiatry professor, and colleagues
compared eight methamphetamine users who had not used methamphetamine for one to five years and 16 recently
abstinent methamphetamine users who had not used the drug for one to six months with 13 healthy, non-substance-using
They found that when drug exposure is terminated, adaptive changes occur, which may contribute to some
degree of normalization of neuronal structure and function.
"The understanding of how the human brain can recover or partially recover as a function of extended
drug abstinence has important implications both for the neurobiology of addiction and substance abuse
treatment," the authors concluded.