PMID- 17715210
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20080129
LR  - 20071106
IS  - 0269-8811 (Print)
IS  - 0269-8811 (Linking)
VI  - 21
IP  - 8
DP  - 2007 Nov
TI  - Chronic heroin and cocaine abuse is associated with decreased serum 
      concentrations of the nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor.
PG  - 820-5
AB  - Chronic cocaine and heroin users display a variety of central nervous system 
      (CNS) dysfunctions including impaired attention, learning, memory, reaction time, 
      cognitive flexibility, impulse control and selective processing. These findings 
      suggest that these drugs may alter normal brain functions and possibly cause 
      neurotoxicity. Neurotrophins are a class of proteins that serve as survival 
      factors for CNS neurons. In particular, nerve growth factor (NGF) plays an 
      important role in the survival and function of cholinergic neurons while 
      brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in synaptic plasticity and 
      in the maintenance of midbrain dopaminergic and cholinergic neurons. In the 
      present study, we measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) the NGF 
      and BDNF levels in serum of three groups of subjects: heroin-dependent patients, 
      cocaine-dependent patients and healthy volunteers. Our goal was to identify 
      possible change in serum neurotrophins in heroin and cocaine users. BDNF was 
      decreased in heroin users whereas NGF was decreased in both heroin and cocaine 
      users. These findings indicate that NGF and BDNF may play a role in the 
      neurotoxicity and addiction induced by these drugs. In view of the neurotrophin 
      hypothesis of schizophrenia the data also suggest that reduced level of 
      neurotrophins may increase the risk of developing psychosis in drug users.
FAU - Angelucci, Francesco
AU  - Angelucci F
AD  - Institute of Neurology and Institute of Psychiatry, Catholic University, Rome, 
      Italy. angeluccifrancesco@rm.unicatt.it
FAU - Ricci, Valerio
AU  - Ricci V
FAU - Pomponi, Massimiliano
AU  - Pomponi M
FAU - Conte, Gianluigi
AU  - Conte G
FAU - Mathe, Aleksander A
AU  - Mathe AA
FAU - Attilio Tonali, Pietro
AU  - Attilio Tonali P
FAU - Bria, Pietro
AU  - Bria P
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20070822
PL  - United States
TA  - J Psychopharmacol
JT  - Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England)
JID - 8907828
RN  - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
RN  - 9061-61-4 (Nerve Growth Factor)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood
MH  - Chronic Disease
MH  - Cocaine-Related Disorders/*blood/complications
MH  - Cognition Disorders/etiology
MH  - Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
MH  - Female
MH  - Heroin Dependence/*blood/complications
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Nerve Growth Factor/*blood
MH  - Psychotic Disorders/etiology
EDAT- 2007/08/24 09:00
MHDA- 2008/01/30 09:00
CRDT- 2007/08/24 09:00
PHST- 2007/08/24 09:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2008/01/30 09:00 [medline]
PHST- 2007/08/24 09:00 [entrez]
AID - 0269881107078491 [pii]
AID - 10.1177/0269881107078491 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - J Psychopharmacol. 2007 Nov;21(8):820-5. doi: 10.1177/0269881107078491. Epub 2007 
      Aug 22.