Study reveals brain shrinkage after meth use
University of Auckland
Noteable differences have been discovered in the brains of recovering methamphetamine addicts, compared to those of non-users.
A research team based at the not-for-profit Mātai Medical Research Institute in Gisborne used MRI scans to study the brains of 13 people who had used meth for an average of 15 years and had recently stopped using the drug.
A new paper describes numerous differences in the brains of meth users, compared with a control group of healthy people.
Chronic meth use can cause widespread brain damage, impairing memory, emotional regulation and executive function, say the medical imaging experts for the Methamphetamine Recovery Project, Associate Professor Miriam Scadeng, from the University of Auckland Centre for Brain Research, and Mātai Senior Research Fellow Dr Maryam Tayebi.
Lead author of the paper, neuroscience PhD student Ben Bristow, says they found reduced volume of the cortex – the outer layer of grey matter – across six brain regions in meth users.
The longer people had used meth, the more shrinkage was seen across multiple areas of the brain.
Meth users had significantly reduced volume in the front of the brain, which is the decision-making hub.
“That area is called the right superior frontal cortex and it’s also responsible for impulse control and inhibition,” says Bristow.
“Meth is such a powerful drug. The changes it causes in the brain affecting motivation, reward processing and impulse control make it particularly challenging to abstain…”
This work has been made possible through the generous backing and support of the programme’s cornerstone funder, the Fred Lewis Enterprise Foundation. We are also sincerely grateful to our partners, the University of Auckland and Tūranga Health; our major supporters, the Neurological Foundation of New Zealand, the Health Research Council of New Zealand, and the Hugh Green Foundation; and to REANNZ Ltd for its technical support.