Posted by lars1 on January 3, 2005, at 2:41:00
In reply to Re: True Amphetamines Prohibited!, posted by blanding on January 2, 2005, at 18:26:45
> Quote: "These findings suggest that amphetamines produce a long-term striatal dopamine depletion by destroying striatal dopamine nerve fibers."
>
> If so, mustn't this process eventually result in Parkinsonian syndrome, akinesia etc.?
> Any empirical evidence out there?I'm no expert in this. However, my understanding is that amphetamines damage or destroy dopamine nerve terminals, but they don't actually kill the neurons (nerve cells) themselves. The neurons are still alive, they just don't work very well. In parkinsonism, on the other hand, neurons actually die off.
I'm not aware of any documentation showing that long-term medical users of amphetamines have an increased rate of parkinsonism. Neuropsychiatric studies of long-term illicit meth abusers have found some abnormalities, but not parkinsonism as far as I know.
-L
poster:lars1
thread:436140
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20041228/msgs/437111.html