Using positron emission tomography (PET) to track tracer doses of methamphetamine in humans’ brains, scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory find that the addictive and long-lasting effects of methamphetamine can be explained in part by its pharmacokinetics, the rate at which it enters and clears the brain, and its distribution.
“Methamphetamine is one of the most addictive and neurotoxic drugs of abuse,” said Brookhaven chemist Joanna Fowler, lead author on the study. “It produces large increases in dopamine, a brain chemical associated with feelings of pleasure and reward, both by increasing dopamine’s release from nerve cells and by blocking its reuptake.”
Like cocaine, methamphetamine entered the brain quickly, a finding consistent with both drugs’ highly reinforcing effects. Methamphetamine, however, lingered in the brain significantly longer than cocaine,
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