Pot May Restrict Blood Flow to Brain: Study

Pot Might Limit Blood Movement to Mind: Research

By Dennis Thompson
HealthDay Reporter

FRIDAY, Dec. 30, 2016 (HealthDay Information) -- Marijuana seems to hamper blood stream to the mind, which theoretically might have an effect on your reminiscence and skill to cause, a brand new research suggests.

Mind scans of almost 1,000 previous and current marijuana customers revealed abnormally low blood stream all through their brains, in contrast with a smaller management group of 92 individuals who'd by no means used pot.

"The variations had been astonishing," mentioned lead researcher Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and founding father of the U.S.-based Amen Clinics. "Nearly each space of the mind we measured was decrease in blood stream and exercise within the marijuana people who smoke than within the wholesome group."

Blood stream was lowest within the hippocampus of marijuana customers, which Amen discovered most troubling.

"The hippocampus is the gateway to reminiscence, to get reminiscences into long-term storage," Amen mentioned. "That space distinguished wholesome individuals from pot people who smoke higher than some other space of the mind."

For this research, Amen and his colleagues evaluated mind scan knowledge collected at 9 outpatient neuropsychiatric clinics throughout the USA. The sufferers had sought remedy of advanced psychological or neurological issues.

The mind scans relied on a know-how referred to as single-photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, which can be utilized to trace blood stream all through the physique.

The researchers discovered 982 sufferers within the database who had been recognized with hashish use dysfunction. Individuals with this prognosis have used marijuana so closely that it has affected their well being, their work or their household life.

The researchers discovered they may reliably distinguish the brains of marijuana customers by checking blood stream to the hippocampus. Marijuana use is believed to intrude with reminiscence formation by inhibiting exercise within the hippocampus, which is the mind's key reminiscence and studying middle.

"The rising lore in our nation is that marijuana is innocuous, it is good medication and it needs to be legalized," Amen mentioned. "This analysis immediately challenges that notion."

Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia now have legal guidelines legalizing marijuana in some kind, primarily for medical functions.

Though smoking is unhealthy for the mind, Amen mentioned blood stream was lowered even in marijuana customers who ingest the drug relatively than smoke it.

"We have additionally seen it with individuals who do not smoke, who get marijuana in cookies or ingest it in different methods," he mentioned.

Whereas the research would not set up a direct cause-and-effect relationship, the researchers concluded that docs ought to assume twice earlier than recommending marijuana within the remedy of somebody with Alzheimer's illness.

The findings "increase necessary questions concerning the impression of marijuana use on regular perform in areas of the mind necessary to reminiscence and considering," mentioned Maria Carrillo, chief science officer for the Alzheimer's Affiliation.

"Sustained insufficient blood stream can injury and ultimately kill cells anyplace within the physique," Carrillo mentioned. "For the reason that mind has one of many physique's richest networks of blood vessels, it's particularly weak. These vessels ship vitamins to the mind and carry away waste, which is important for regular cognitive perform."

Nevertheless, Carrillo added, "we can't inform from this research whether or not marijuana use will increase an individual's danger for cognitive decline or Alzheimer's."

Different specialists raised issues that the marijuana customers who underwent the mind scans had been searching for remedy for psychiatric issues. They mentioned this might skew the outcomes.

For instance, the research experiences that 62 p.c of the marijuana group had consideration deficit/hyperactivity dysfunction, 47 p.c had traumatic mind damage, and 35 p.c had main depressive dysfunction.

"It appears to be like as if the hashish customers had been all referred to the clinic for some drawback whereas the wholesome controls weren't," mentioned Mitch Earleywine, an advisory board member for NORML, which advocates for marijuana legalization. He is additionally a professor of psychology on the State College of New York at Albany.

Neurologist Dr. Terry Fife of Phoenix, Ariz., agreed with Earleywine.

"You actually wish to know that the one factor completely different between the 2 teams is using marijuana, and we won't inform that right here," mentioned Fife, a fellow of the American Academy of Neurology.

Fife added that the research doesn't present the extent of the members' marijuana use, outdoors of their prognosis for hashish use dysfunction. "It is unclear how a lot of a person these customers had been," he mentioned.

Fife concluded that the doable hyperlink between marijuana and Alzheimer's illness will want additional analysis.

"I would not say it is a danger issue, but it surely may very well be an aggravator of the dysfunction," Fife mentioned. "If it is true that it reduces the perform of the hippocampus, it might in idea make the reminiscence a bit of worse, however Alzheimer's is rather more difficult than simply reminiscence."

The report was revealed lately within the Journal of Alzheimer's Illness.

Copyright © 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved.

SOURCES: Daniel Amen, M.D., psychiatrist and founder, Amen Clinics; Maria Carrillo, Ph.D., chief science officer, Alzheimer's Affiliation; Mitch Earleywine, Ph.D., advisory board member, NORML, and professor, psychology, State College of New York at Albany; Terry Fife, M.D., neurologist, Phoenix; November 2016 Journal of Alzheimer's Illness