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Cocaine Brain Damage May Be Long Term

Both animal and human newborn studies indicate that exposure to cocaine during pregnancy delays brain development or, more specifically, a process called white matter myelination. Normally, white matter myelination in the frontal and temporal lobes continues into a person’s late middle age. These areas of the brain play a role in many critical functions including reasoning, emotions, judgment, voluntary movement, hearing, and memory. Recent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data have confirmed continued white matter volume increases until the age of 47 years. This study explored possible differences between the course of brain maturation in cocaine-dependent versus non-dependent individuals.

Study subjects comprised two groups (n=89, all male) between the ages of 19 and 47 years of age (37 cocaine-dependent, and 52 non-dependent). All were evaluated with MRI, with a focus on the frontal and temporal lobes.

Researchers found significant age-related increases in white matter volume in both the frontal and temporal lobes of the non-dependent group. The cocaine-dependent individuals, however, did not demonstrate any age-related increases. These findings suggest that, in adults, cocaine dependence may arrest normal white matter maturation in the frontal and temporal lobes of addicts who continue using cocaine.

(Bartzokis, G, Beckson, M, Lu, PH, Edwards, N, Bridge, P, Mintz, J: Brain maturation may be arrested in chronic cocaine addicts. Biological Psychiatry 51:605-611, 2002.)

Corresponding author: George Bartzokis, M.D., 710 Westwood Plaza, Room 2-238, Los Angeles CA 90095-1769.

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