Survey says brains maybe wired for addiction
Source: Agencies |
February 4, 2012, Saturday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
DRUG addicts and their non-addicted siblings share certain features in the brain, suggesting a susceptibility to addiction is inherited, according to scientists.
Researchers who scanned the brains of 50 pairs of brothers and sisters, of whom one was a cocaine addict, found that all had brain abnormalities making it more difficult for them to exercise self-control.
The findings increase understanding of why some people with a family history of drug abuse have a higher risk of addiction than others and could point to new treatments to help vulnerable people learn how to take control before addictions set in.
The World Health Organization estimates that at least 15.3 million people worldwide have drug use disorders. It says at least 148 countries report problems with injected drug use.
A study in the Lancet medical journal last month said that as many as 200 million people use illicit drugs worldwide each year.
Unhealthy addictions can also range from narcotics and prescription medicines to legal substances such as cigarettes and alcohol and lifestyle factors such as over-eating or gambling.
Scientists have noticed brain differences in drug addicts before, but were not sure whether those differences came before the drug use, or were the result of it.
Karen Ersche of the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute at Cambridge University led a team of researchers who got around this problem by studying pairs of biological siblings, one of whom one was addicted, and compared both siblings' brains to those of other healthy people.
Ersche said: "Our findings now shed light on why the risk of becoming addicted to drugs is increased in people with a family history. Parts of their brains underlying self-control abilities work less efficiently."
Ersche said the next step would be to explore how the siblings who don't take drugs manage to overcome their brain abnormality, so scientists can better understand what protects them from drug abuse.
Researchers who scanned the brains of 50 pairs of brothers and sisters, of whom one was a cocaine addict, found that all had brain abnormalities making it more difficult for them to exercise self-control.
The findings increase understanding of why some people with a family history of drug abuse have a higher risk of addiction than others and could point to new treatments to help vulnerable people learn how to take control before addictions set in.
The World Health Organization estimates that at least 15.3 million people worldwide have drug use disorders. It says at least 148 countries report problems with injected drug use.
A study in the Lancet medical journal last month said that as many as 200 million people use illicit drugs worldwide each year.
Unhealthy addictions can also range from narcotics and prescription medicines to legal substances such as cigarettes and alcohol and lifestyle factors such as over-eating or gambling.
Scientists have noticed brain differences in drug addicts before, but were not sure whether those differences came before the drug use, or were the result of it.
Karen Ersche of the Behavioural and Clinical Neuroscience Institute at Cambridge University led a team of researchers who got around this problem by studying pairs of biological siblings, one of whom one was addicted, and compared both siblings' brains to those of other healthy people.
Ersche said: "Our findings now shed light on why the risk of becoming addicted to drugs is increased in people with a family history. Parts of their brains underlying self-control abilities work less efficiently."
Ersche said the next step would be to explore how the siblings who don't take drugs manage to overcome their brain abnormality, so scientists can better understand what protects them from drug abuse.
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