Investigating Drug Use: Brain Imaging 

imagine something that does the opposite of drugs, so instead of making you "high", it makes you "low"

Start doing simple math like multiplication and division on paper. Plus meditation. You'll get your brain where it was.

lizzy brock - good question. The brain does change from long-term opioid addiction, and you’re correct that a brain change that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease - deposits of hyperphosphorylated tau- has been observed in the brains of people with opioid addiction. While this and other molecular brain changes associated with opioid addiction can only be detected in brain tissue after a person has died, other differences can be detected by use of PET scans and MRI in people currently living with opioid addiction. For example, people with opioid addiction have decreased release of the neurotransmitter dopamine, as well as lower levels of dopamine’s D2 receptor. They also have decreased gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, and increased activity in a brain network associated with impulsivity. Research is currently underway to use these imaging techniques to demonstrate how treatment of opioid addiction with medication may ameliorate or even reverse opioid-induced brain changes. Please let us know if you have any add'l questions.

Lisa Libby , long term use of methamphetamine can change the brain permanently. Continued methamphetamine use causes changes in the brain's dopamine system that are associated with reduced coordination and impaired verbal learning. In studies of people who used methamphetamine over the long term, severe changes also affected areas of the brain involved with emotion and memory. This may explain many of the emotional, learning, judgment and memory problems observed in those who use methamphetamine. It can also destroy gum tissue and result in staining and loss of teeth, commonly known as “meth mouth.” It can cause severe itching and skin sores. You can learn more here.www.drugabuse.gov/publications/drugfacts/methamphetamine To learn about treatment, see our Step by Step Guide: www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/treatment/what-to-do-if-you-have-problem-drugs-adults

Glutathione can reverse damage done by meth, NAC works beautifully

Atak ko sanfan_124, thank you for your interest in NIDA's science-based resources. Changes to the brain caused by drug use are not detectable by MRI without a comparison scan of the same brain taken before initiation of drug use.

probably, you get more dopamine when your brain anticipates you are about to be rewarded than when you actually get the reward. therefore thinking about get a reward is similar to anticipation. however there's a difference an example would be thinking about a drink or having a bottle of alcohol in front of you. in both situations you haven't drank any alcohol but you do get dopamine and become excited. but the situation where you just think about alcohol is very less dopaminergic than actually seeing alcohol in front of you

Bee Bop, These are very good questions. To answer it, we need to distinguish between the acute effects of a prescription drug (those that happen in the brain as soon as someone takes the drug for either legitimate or illegitimate purposes) vs the chronic effects (which refer to the consequences of using or misusing the drug long-term). It would be virtually impossible for an MRI to identify structural or functional brain differences after acute exposure to a standard dose of a therapeutic drug. However, depending on the drug and pattern of use, individuals with addiction who have used the drug frequently, at high doses, and sometimes for years, are likely to have caused identifiable disruptions (neural and chemical) that impact how their brains work. MRI may not be well suited to pick up subtle structural differences in the brains of individuals addicted to a drug compared to those taking it as medically prescribed. However, a variation of the technique called functional MRI [fMRI] has the ability to detect differences (impairments) in brain activation patterns while individuals are at rest and while they perform specific tasks. At present, there is no threshold for distinguishing brain changes following therapeutic use from those following misuse. Thank you for your interest.

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA/NIH) Fascinating stuff! I find neuro and microbiology so much fun to learn about! Thanks you!😊