Meph damages brain
September 19, 2012
RESEARCHERS from the University
of Sydney have discovered that the
popular party drug mephedrone
can cause lasting damage to the brain.
The research, published in PLOS
ONE the Public Library of Science
journal, tested the drug on rats,
giving them an injection of
mephedrone once a day for ten
days.
The rats were then split into
groups, with the first having their
brains examined an hour after their
final dose, and the second having
several weeks of drug-free living
before being given behavioural
tests to find signs of long-term
cognitive impairment, and then
having their brains analysed.
“With this second group that
lived drug free for an extended
period we found a substantial
memory impairment in animals
that had been given the higher
dose of the drug,” said Craig
Motbey, a PhD candidate in the
University’s School of Psychology
and lead author.
“This is concerning because it
confirms earlier hints of memory
problems in human mephedrone
users.
“The fact the impairment was still
there many weeks after the end of
the drug treatment suggests that
this damage may be permanent,”
he added.
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