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Journal of Psychopharmacology
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0269881107078491v1
21/8/820    most recent
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Article

Chronic heroin and cocaine abuse is associated with decreased serum concentrations of the nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor

Francesco Angelucci1*, Valerio Ricci1, Massimiliano Pomponi1, Gianluigi Conte1, Aleksander A Mathe2, P Tonali1, and Pietro Bria1

1 Institute of Neurology and Institute of Psychiatry, Catholic University, Rome, Italy; Fondazione Don C. Gnocchi, Rome, Italy; Karolinska Institutet, Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry M56, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden
2 Karolinska Institutet, Clinical Neuroscience, Psychiatry M56, Karolinska University Hospital Huddinge, Stockholm, Sweden

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.


  Abstract

Chronic cocaine and heroin users display a variety of central nervous system (CNS) dysfunctions including impaired attention, learning, memory, reaction time, cognitive flexibility, impulse control and selective processing. These findings suggest that these drugs may alter normal brain functions and possibly cause neurotoxicity. Neurotrophins are a class of proteins that serve as survival factors for CNS neurons. In particular, nerve growth factor (NGF) plays an important role in the survival and function of cholinergic neurons while brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in synaptic plasticity and in the maintenance of midbrain dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons. In the present study, we measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) the NGF and BDNF levels in serum of three groups of subjects: heroin-dependent patients, cocaine-dependent patients and healthy volunteers. Our goal was to identify possible change in serum neurotrophins in heroin and cocaine users. BDNF was decreased in heroin users whereas NGF was decreased in both heroin and cocaine users. These findings indicate that NGF and BDNF may play a role in the neurotoxicity and addiction induced by these drugs. In view of the neurotrophin hypothesis of schizophrenia the data also suggest that reduced level of neurotrophins may increase the risk of developing psychosis in drug users.

Key Words: heroin, cocaine, NGF, BDNF, human

First published on August 22, 2007, doi:10.1177/0269881107078491

Journal of Psychopharmacology 2007;21:820.

A more recent version of this article appeared on November 1, 2007

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