Cocaine Addiction Can Cause Brain Deficits That Inclined To Abuse

According to the research that has been undertaken by the U. S. researchers, addicts of cocaine may have deficits in brain that may predispose them to drug abuse.

According to their study the brain images that they took of the cocaine addicts’ expose abnormalities or irregularities in the cerebral cortex- (the layer of un-myelinated neurons (the grey matter) forming the cortex of the cerebrum) or also can be called the outer surface of the brain. These irregularities or the changes result in the disturbance in the function of brain, which result in lack of attention and lack of decision making.

Dr. Hans Breiter of Massachusetts General Hospital who has made a research which appears in the journal Neuron said that, the data points to the mixture of both predisposition and the effects of drugs result in the structural alternations that is observed.

Magnetic resonance or MRIs of 20 persons who are addicts of cocaine were matched with the other 20 careful volunteers to find out the differences related to cocaine in the brain, by Breiter and colleagues.

As compared to the healthy counterparts of the people who are addicts of cocaine the outer layer helps them to plan and control their behavior and has very less volume in the cortex.

These differences mark in the areas that regulate reward, decision making and attention. Also it was found that the volunteers who were healthy had thicker areas in the front portions on the right side o their brain which was the exact opposite of what was found in the cocaine addicts. The area of cortex had less variation in the thickness in cocaine addicts.

Also research revealed that there was change in cingulate that corresponded in the length due to over exposure to cocaine.