The key to limiting long-term brain damage caused by methamphetamine abuse could rest in the liver, according to research underway at The University of Toledo.

“We can’t look at the brain in isolation,” said Dr. Bryan Yamamoto, professor and chair of the UT Department of Neurosciences. “We know the impact alcohol abuse has on the liver and there is evidence of comorbidity of people abusing both alcohol and methamphetamine. But this will be the first time research is focused first on how meth abuse itself affects the liver, and then in turn the brain.”

The long-term brain damage from methamphetamine abuse is a result of too much of the amino acid glutamate and free radicals in the brain. It is Yamamoto’s theory that the excess glutamate is caused from the excess ammonia that cannot be metabolized by the liver.

If proven with his research, which was recently funded with a $1.55 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, then early medical intervention could mitigate the long-term effects on the brain, which include destroying dopamine nerve cells that damage cognitive abilities and limit our ability to move. Chronic abuse also leads to psychotic behavior and even death.

“If a person enters the emergency room high on methamphetamine, the physicians could initiate a pharmacological treatment to help eliminate the excess ammonia in the body before it has the opportunity to wreck havoc on the brain and the rest of the body,” said Yamamoto, who has been studying the impact of drugs such as methamphetamine and “ecstasy” on the brain for more than 20 years.

According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration Drug Abuse Warning Network, emergency department visits of people on central nervous system stimulations, such as meth, increased 196 percent from 2004 to 2010 with more than 31,500 visits in the year 2010.

Meth abuse and manufacturing is increasing not only in the United States, but across the world. It has even made its way into popular culture with the AMC television show Breaking Bad about a high school chemistry teacher who begins “cooking” the drug after being diagnosed with terminal cancer to earn money to support his family.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, 1.2 million Americans age 12 and older in 2009 had abused methamphetamine at least once the past year.

Methamphetamine’s popularity is increasing because of how easily and inexpensively it can be “cooked,” despite efforts to control the drugs and chemicals used to manufacture the drug, Yamamoto said. The drug is most commonly smoked or injected and causes a euphoric feeling when the brain releases the chemical dopamine, which is a neurotransmitter that controls pleasure.

While North America accounts for most of the methamphetamine operations, with 82 percent of the number of meth labs sized in 2007 according to the United Nationals Office on Drugs and Crime World Drug Report 2009, manufacturing is growing concern across the world with the most notable increases in east and southeast Asia, Europe and southern Africa.

For more information contact Meghan Cunningham at 419.530.2410 or meghan.cunningham@utoledo.edu.

Tags: College of Medicine and Life Sciences