You know that the consumption of drugs called "strong" brings numerous and fatal effects on our body, right? The heroine, the crack, the acid, the cocaine, all are terrible substances that degenerate the body and undermine its functions-fundamental, physical, intellectual...-, in that we agree.But also, one of them makes our neurons eat themselves .Want to know more?
Incredible! This makes your brain neurons become CANNAL!
A study done at John Hopkins University showed that very large doses of cocaine actually stimulate strange behavior in neurons: they eat themselves, practice autophagy and die.
One of the conclusions of this study is that "autocannibal" behavior was not only observed in primary consumers, It also happens to fetuses when the mother consumes cocaine during pregnancy, which is more relevant when explaining the risks of addicted mothers .
To understand this process of autophagy, let's first see how the brain cells are.They contain organs called lysosomes that store hydrolytic and proteolytic enzymes used to degrade the accumulated debris in the cytoplasms.It is a cleaning system controlled by numerous proteins, and that is what Researchers call autophagy.The study's co-author, Prasun Guha , presents a perfect metaphor:
“A cell is like a house that constantly generates garbage; Autophagy is the housekeeper who takes out the garbage.”
What does cocaine do? Accelerates and uncontrolled this natural process, causing the cells to release all proteolytic and hydrolytic enzymes and eat themselves from the inside, until their irremediable death.The high doses of the drug alter the normal levels of proteins, and already There is no possible control in the process .
However, these researchers have come up with a possible treatment for this cocaine-induced cell death, and to help with rehabilitation.nitric oxide and its interaction with the enzyme GAPDH affects autophagy; there is an experimental drug-the CGP3466B -with which a treatment is being evaluated.
Among other effects, this drug interrupts the interaction of nitric oxide and the GAPDH enzyme, and can Protect neurons.In the experiments mentioned above, scientists demonstrated that the drug stopped autophagy in mouse neurons.
Cells have three methods to program their death, and discovered that cocaine It acts exclusively on autophagy (one of the three methods), which increases the chances of developing new drugs to eliminate its toxicity.
However, there are still many studies to know if the CGP3466B works correctly or if It is possible to use it for other treatments, such as Parkinson's disease or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, in whose studies no efficacy has been observed so far.
Certainly, scientific research is a work that never ends a.Every discovery is a possibility that opens to new paths, guided by an insatiable curiosity.
Read our article 5 things you don't know about MDMA/ecstasy.
Images: Scabeater , Nightlife Of Revelry, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Emilio Garcia
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