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BALTIMORE, Apr 10, 2006 (UPI via COMTEX) -- A federal government-funded clinical study at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore suggests the brain's reaction to amphetamines is determined by gender.
The study is believed the first to provide evidence in people that amphetamines have a greater effect on men's brains than women's -- a discovery scientists say might lead to tailored treatments for drug abuse and neurological diseases.
Researchers -- led by Dr. Gary Wand, a professor of endocrinology -- found men's brains showed evidence of up to three times the amount of chemical dopamine as women's when exposed to amphetamines.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that also works like a hormone. In the brain, it can increase heart rate and blood pressure and is critical to the way the brain controls movement. Commonly linked to the brain's so-called pleasure system, shortages of dopamine are associated with Parkinson's disease, memory loss, depression and other mental illnesses.
"These appear to be the first clinical studies whose results may help explain why we see a greater number of men abusing amphetamines than women," Wand said.
The research is to be published July 1 in The Journal of Biological Psychiatry.
URL: www.upi.com Copyright 2006 by United Press International
