Long-term marijua use disrupts brain's reward process

New York, June 8: Researchers have demonstrated that long-term marijua use can disrupt the brain’s tural reward processes. “This study shows that marijua disrupts the tural reward circuitry of the brain, making marijua highly salient to those who use it heavily,” said one of the researchers Francesca Filbey from Centre for Brain Health at The University of Texas at Dallas. The researchers found that marijua users had more activity in the brain’s reward processes when presented with canbis cues than with tural reward cues.

“In essence, these brain alterations could be a marker of transition from recreatiol marijua use to problematic use,” Filbey said. The researchers studied 59 adult marijua users and 70 nonusers, accounting for potential biases such as traumatic brain injury and other drug use.

Study participants rated their urge to use marijua after looking at various visual canbis cues, such as a pipe, bong, joint or blunt, and self-selected images of preferred fruit, such as a ba, an apple, grapes or an orange.

When presented with marijua cues compared to fruit, marijua users showed enhanced response in the brain regions associated with reward, such as the orbitofrontal cortex, striatum, anterior cingulate gyrus, precuneus and the ventral tegmental area. “We found that this disruption of the reward system correlates with the number of problems, such as family issues, individuals have because of their marijua use,” Filbey said.  (IANS)

Top Headlines

No stories found.
Sentinel Assam
www.sentinelassam.com