Current Situation of Methamphetamine Abuse and Related Research Progress / 法医学杂志

Drug problem is a major social and public security problem in the world. Drug abuse poses a great threat to economic development, social stability and public health. In recent years, synthetic drugs represented by methamphetamine have surpassed traditional drugs such as morphine, heroin, ketamine and become one of the most abused drugs in the world. In order to solve the problem of drug abuse, it is of great theoretical value and practical significance to carry out all-round and multi-level scientific research on drug-related issues. Based on the current situation of drug abuse, this article reviews research progresses on the epidemiology of methamphetamine abuse, the monitoring technology, the basic researches on toxicity damage, the withdrawal drug screening, the related clinical comorbidity and the testing technologies, comprehensively presenting the development trend of methamphetamine abuse related issues.

Role of NR2B and CREB in ginsenoside Rbl regulation of methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference in rats / 中国药理学通报

Aim To study the effect of ginsenoside Rbl on methamphetamine-induced CPP in rats and to explore the role of NR2B/CREB in it. Methods METH(2mg·kg-1, i.p) was administered to establish METH-induced CPP model in rats. 0 ∼3 d was the adaptation stage and 4 ∼ 13 d was the experimental stage. METH (2 mg · kg-1, i. p) or saline (10 mg · kg-1, i. p) was injected every other day. Rb1 (10 mg · kg-1, i.p) or saline was pre-injected lh before injection of METH or saline. After perfusion, the hippocampus was isolated from brain on ice, and the expression levels of NR2B, CREB and p-CREB were detected by Western blot. Results The animal model of METH-induced CPP was successfully established. The rats were pretreated with Rbl (10 mg · kg-1) for 1 h, and the time that the rats stayed in drug-paired was significantly reduced compared with METH group. Western blot results showed that NR2B, p-CREB and p-CREB/CREB significantly increased in METH group and without altering CREB expression levels compared with control group. However, after pre-treated with Rbl, the expression levels of NR2B, p-CREB and p-CREB/CREB decreased compared with METH group. Conclusions METH can significantly induce CPP in rats. Rbl may inhibit METH-induced CPP in rats by regulating NR2B and p-CREB.

Effects of gastrodin against SH-SY5Y cell autophagy induced by methamphetamine and underlying mechanisms / 中国药理学通报

Aim To investigate the effects of gastrodin on SH-SY5Y cell autophagy induced by methamphet-amine (METH) and the underlying mechanisms. Methods SY5Y cells were treated by METH with the concentration of 0.5,1.0,1.5,2.0,2.5,3.0 mmol·L-1for 24 h. The morphological changes were ob-served by microscopy,the expression of LC3-Ⅱ,Bec-lin-1,Akt,p-Akt,mTOR and p-mTOR were detected by Western blot. Gastrodin was added to the medium 1 h before METH treatment. Results The SY 5 Y cells were morphologically featured by shrinkage and den-drite disruption after exposed to METH(0~3 mmol· L-1),and autophagic vacuoles occurred in cytoplasm. The expression of LC3-Ⅱ increased over METH dose. Confocal results showed that LC3-Ⅱsignificantly in-creased in METH group as compared with control, while decreased in METH+ Gastrodin group. The ex-pression levels of LC3-Ⅱand Beclin-1 significantly in-creased (P<0.01) in METH group, p-mTOR and p-Akt decreased, and mTOR and Akt showed no signifi-cant difference as compared with control. However, the gastrodin could decrease the expression of LC3-Ⅱand Beclin-1 and increase the expression of mTOR,p-mTOR,Akt and p-Akt as compared with METH-trea-ted groups. Conclusions METH can induce SY5Y cells autophagy. The protective effect of gastrodin a-gainst METH-induced autophag may be related to gast-rodin regulation mTOR and Akt signaling pathway.

Expression of Astrocyte,Neuron,and Proinflammatory Cytokines Derived from Frontal Cortex of Methamphetamine Dependent rats after Gastrodin Administration / 昆明医科大学学报

Objective To observe the curative mechanism and effect of neurotoxicity injury induced by methamphetamine (MA) and the neuroprotective effects of gastrodin interfered. Whether the expression of astrocyte and proinflammatory cytokines has contributed to the effects of gastrodin.Methods 48 healthy male SD rats were randomly divided into three groups: control group (Daily intraperitoneal injection of saline for 8 weeks),MA group (A dose of 10 mg/kg MA was administered every day for four weeks,then given daily intraperitoneal injection with 10 mg/kg saline for 4 weeks) and gastrodin group (A dose of 10 mg/kg MA was administered every day for four weeks,then given daily intraperitoneal injection with 10 mg/kg gastrodin for 4weeks) . The behavioral changes of rats were measured by conditioned place preference ( CPP) and sterotyped behavior ( SB) induced by methamphetamine. Immunofluorescence staining was used to detect the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and NEUN in rat frontal cortex.The expression of IL－6 and TNF－α were detected by quantity RT－PCR and westrn bloting.Results Compa MA depndent 4 weeks group with control group, the scores of sterotyped behavior of MA depndent groups had signficantly increased (P＜0.01) . Comparing MA depndent 4 weeks group with MA depndent 4 weeks+gastrodin group, the scores of sterotyped behavior of MA dependent 4 weeks group had obviously decreaseed (P＜0.01) . Compared with the control group, the expression of GFAP of MA dependent 4 weeks group decreased and the expression of NEUN increased. Compared MA dependent 4 weeks group with control group, the expression of IL－ 6 and TNF－α increased (P＜0.01) . Compared MA dependent 4 weeks+gastrodian group with MA dependent 4 weeks group, the expression of TNF－α and IL－6 significantly reduced (P＜0.01) . Conclusion The neurological damage induced by methamphetamine might be related to the activation of astrocytes and the high expression of inflammatory cytokines including IL－6 and TNF－α. Gastrodin could abate the neurological injury of methamphetamine dependence via reducing the activation of astrocytes and decreasing the expression of IL－6 and TNF－α.

Progress of Functional Imaging in Brain Structure and Functional Changes in People with Amphetamine Addiction / 昆明医科大学学报

Amphetamines abuse is defined as a chronic recurrent encephalopathy, and it is a global public health problem which seriously threatens the health of human and the social stability. Long-term abuse and addiction of amphetamines leads to structural and functional changes of specific encephalic regions. Further researches on these encephalic regions, the network of brain and biological information may be helpful to understanding drug abuse mechanism and possible therapeutic measures. Recently, a series of functional imaging techniques, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional magnetic resonance imaging (f MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and positron emission tomography (PET), were used to detect different brain structural changes of the volume and density of encephalic regions, functional changes of cerebral blood flow and brain cognition. The results showed functional imaging techniques play significant roles to detect different structural and functional changes of the brain. Based on these results, the researchers aim to clarify the mechanisms of drug abuse. That is the main focus of this review.