Where Ideas Grow

Research on the effects of methamphetamine on the brain wins three international awards

The i3S researcher Teresa Canedo and students of the MCBiology Doctoral Program Ana Isabel Silva and Ana Filipa Terceiro (also researching at i3S), were recognized at the Neuro 2022 congress in Okinawa, Japan, with first, second, and fourth prizes, respectively. The three researchers are studying the action of methamphetamine, a very potent psychostimulant drug of abuse, in the brain.

Developing scientific work in the Addiction Biology group (led by Teresa Summavielle) - Teresa Canedo, Ana Isabel Silva, and Ana Filipa Terceiro received Travel Awards for the value of travel, accommodation, and registration to the congress. “More than the value of the awards, which was also very important and has a lot of impact on the group’s accounts, this international recognition of the work we develop in Portugal and specifically in our group was very gratifying”, they explain.

The work of Teresa Canedo, already published at the end of 2021 in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, demonstrates the inflammatory effect on the brain caused by an acute consumption of methamphetamine, and explains how this mechanism is triggered and shows that by stopping this mechanism it is possible to act preventively and avoid behaviors that normally lead to relapses. The researcher discovered that methamphetamines activate a specific type of glial cell (astrocytes) and that it is these that trigger the neuroinflammatory process by excessively releasing glutamate - a neurotransmitter which activates microglia, the main immune cells in the brain.

Also with the objective of “discovering more efficient weaning therapies”, Ana Isabel Silva used mutant mice to explore IL-10, an anti-inflammatory cytokine with potential therapeutic action in the inflammatory condition caused by methamphetamine. “In this case, we tried to prevent some of the relapse-promoting behaviors caused by this drug use, such as anxiety changes and loss of risk assessment, which we previously showed to be related to methamphetamine neuroinflammation”, she explains.

Ana Filipa Terceiro, on the other hand, studies the neurons of the hippocampus, an important region in the formation of memories and therefore in the development of addiction to drugs of abuse. Methamphetamine, she underlines, “changes the morphology of neurons and the way they communicate with each other, so it is essential to know the mechanisms by which this change occurs in order to be able to use new therapeutic approaches”.

About methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a member of the amphetamines family and is in the category of psychostimulant substances which includes cocaine. It is a potent (synthetic) chemical substance which is dangerous and causes extreme dependence very quickly. This is because it has a stimulating effect on the central nervous system and creates a false sense of energy, euphoria, reduces anxiety, and increases self-confidence and aggression.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that there are currently more than 24.7 million consumers, 80% of whom are under the age of 30. Recent data points to an increase in the use of psychotropic drugs even among people over 50 years of age. It is not the most used drug worldwide, but it is the one that deserves greater concern, not only because it is part of the composition of some medicines, but also because it is seen as a recreational drug and is widely used by students during exams.