“So we are excited to see what Mātai come up with, using their state-of the-art technology.”
Mātai associate professor Miriam Scadeng said the research team was using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to track the changes in the structure of the brain and heart, while a computer-based game was being used to test a person’s cognitive function after quitting meth.
She said Mātai was thankful to the trust for its support and help in recruiting 10 participants for the research.
The objective of the study was two-fold, she said.
“One is to determine how coming off methamphetamine allows some recovery from the changes in the brain that occur due to its use. Secondly we hope to encourage local people in Gisborne who use meth to try to quit.
“If we can visually show them — using an MRI — how their brain and cardiac function is improving after quitting use. Then there would be an extra impetus for them to not use again.”
Dr Scadeng said the team planned to visit schools and demonstrate to young people the damage meth can do to the brain, and hopefully discourage them from starting to use meth.
She said previous MRI studies had demonstrated the damage that meth does to the brain — it physically changes the anatomy, blood flow and chemical make-up of the brain.
“The reason we are looking at the heart as well is that most people who use meth long term, end up dying of heart-related conditions.”
When a person uses meth, she said, the drug accelerates the ageing process of blood vessels, which in turn causes a premature build-up of plaque. This results in the thickening and hardening of the arteries (atherosclerosis) and users die young from heart attacks and arrhythmias.
Dr Scadeng said to better understand the nature of the brain and heart damage that occurs, the Mātai team was using a sophisticated MRI “toolbox”.
The MRI will also make it easier to assess the effects of treatments on brain and heart health recovery.
“For instance, one of the methods that we are using to scan the organs is an anatomical scan. We know that meth use affects some brain regions more than others. Using this method, we can measure the changes in volume in the different brain areas as recovery occurs.”
For the cognitive tests, Ben Bristow, a PhD student working for Mātai, said the 10 participants were given a laptop and had to play a game called the Tower of London to test their planning abilities.
“It’s another way of looking at how meth affects what the brain does,” he said.
Matai research fellow Dr Maryam Tayebi is working with Mr Bristow on the game programme.
“We hope to correlate the data from the game with those of the MRI scans.
“What I like about this research is that unlike other previous papers, we are looking at many different aspects arising from the brain’s functions, structure, and inflammation, which makes the study unique.”
The researchers said they also wanted to investigate the safety of “substitution therapies” to help manage the meth addiction.
Dr Gil Newburn, Mātai neuropsychiatrist, is interested in whether the use of dexamphetamine or methylphenidate during rehabilitation affects brain recovery differently from abstinence.
“We have decades of experience that tell us there are perfectly safe meds when used in an appropriate clinical dose. The drug dexamphetamine has been around since 1937 and methylphenidate since about 1944. Both have been used to treat ADHD.”
Dr Newburn said another significant part of the study would look at how methamphetamine use causes inflammation in various ways in the brain and MRI techniques developed by Emeritus Professor Graeme Bydder (Mātai Scientific Advisory Board Member) will be used to monitor this.
Matai charge MRI technologist Paul Condron said the team was also using “functional MRI” to look into alterations of activity in different areas of the brain when resting and doing tasks.
“Even when you are sleeping your brain is still communicating with other aspects of the brain. So we are seeing the changes the brain goes through when the subjects are lying still versus doing some activity.”
Mr Condron says he appreciates the community involvement in the study. “We are lucky to have the opportunity to image these, our local people, who are not only going through a traumatic time in their lives but also willing to see through the full study as they go through their recovery. “
This project was made possible thanks to the support of the Fred Lewis Enterprise Foundation.
