Rats were used for the study conducted by researchers at Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. The researchers explored the manner in which methamphetamine affects the body and found that it triggers the various cardiovascular problems that people addicted to the drug often face.
When rats were administered the drug, the researchers found that methamphetamine reacted with proteins in the body. This reaction led to the creation of compounds called advanced glycation endproducts (AGE); products which have already been tied to a number of conditions including Alzheimer??s and diabetes.
They also observed that normal function of the proteins was disrupted on account of methamphetamine-induced AGE products. In the circulatory system, AGEs were found to form deposits on artery walls, leading to inflammation and damage to the artery.
??Methamphetamine can cause a number of medical complications that haven??t been recognized before,? said lead researcher Kim D. Janda, a Professor of Chemistry at the Scripps Research Institute. ??Not only is it addictive, but it can cause a number of complications from cardiovascular to inflammation. It??s a real dirty drug.?
??Long-term use of methamphetamine can cause an aberrant chemical reaction of amphetamine and sugar structures that change proteins to cause both an antibody and inflammation response,? Janda said. ??This reaction can cause both heart and blood vessel damage,? he added.
According to the researchers, their findings might also explain the cause for methamphetamine users having to increase their dosage on a regular basis. ??The antibody response can remove the methamphetamine from cells, so they need to take more,? Janda said.
??Most research on methamphetamine has focused on the effects of the drug on the brain,? said study co-author Tobin J. Dickerson, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry, also at the Scripps Research Institute. ??But there are things that happen to other parts of your body,? he said.
The researchers believe the mechanism they??ve observed in rats also affects humans in a similar manner. ??This finding could lead to ways to prevent this effect of methamphetamine abuse in people,? Dickerson said. ??If you could prevent this mechanism, you could prevent the vascular damage,? he said and added, ??Research along this line is being done with diabetes, in which the same mechanism is responsible for blood vessel damage.
Findings of the study have been published in the current issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.