A key aspect of treating drug abuse is understanding similarities and differences of how drugs of abuse affect the brain. The George Lab published a new study investigating how the brain is altered during withdrawal from psychostimulants. Using single-cell whole-brain imaging in mice, we found that each drug produced a unique pattern of activity in the brain, but that brains in withdrawal from cocaine and methamphetamine shared similar features. Interestingly, we found the major common link between withdrawal from all psychostimulants, when compared to controls, was a shift in the broad organization of the brain in the form of reduced modularity. Reduced modularity has been shown in several brain disorders, including traumatic brain injury, and dementia, and may be the common link between drugs of abuse.
For more information about the study see this Twitter thread and the article below.
Article: Characterization of the brain functional architecture of psychostimulant withdrawal using single-cell whole brain imaging. Adam Kimbrough, Marsida Kallupi, Lauren C. Smith, Sierra Simpson, Andres Collazo, Olivier George. eNeuro 27 September 2021, ENEURO.0208-19.2021; DOI: 10.1523/ENEURO.0208-19.2021