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12-30-2016, 10:30 AM
Pot may restrict blood flow to brain: study
December 30, 2016 by Dennis Thompson
(HealthDay)Marijuana appears to hamper blood flow to the brain, which theoretically could affect your memory and ability to reason, a new study suggests.
<div></div>
Brain scans of nearly 1,000 past and present marijuana users revealed abnormally low blood flow throughout their brains, compared with a smaller control group of 92 people who'd never used pot.
"The differences were astonishing," said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and founder of the U.S.-based Amen Clinics. "Virtually every area of the <a class="" href="http://medicalxpress.com/tags/brain/">brain</a> we measured was lower in blood flow and activity in the marijuana smokers than in the healthy group."
Blood flow was lowest in the hippocampus of marijuana users, which Amen found most troubling.
"The hippocampus is the gateway to memory, to get memories into long-term storage," Amen said. "That area distinguished healthy people from pot smokers better than any other area of the brain."
For this study, Amen and his colleagues evaluated brain scan data collected at nine outpatient neuropsychiatric clinics across the United States. The patients had sought treatment of complex psychological or neurological problems.
The brain scans relied on a technology called single-photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, which can be used to track blood flow throughout the body.
The researchers found 982 patients in the database who had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder. People with this diagnosis have used marijuana so heavily that it has affected their health, their work or their family life.
The researchers found they could reliably distinguish the brains of marijuana users by checking blood flow to the hippocampus. Marijuana use is believed to interfere with memory formation by inhibiting activity in the hippocampus, which is the brain's key memory and learning center.
"The growing lore in our country is that marijuana is innocuous, it's good medicine and it should be legalized," Amen said. "This research directly challenges that notion."
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia now have laws legalizing marijuana in some form, primarily for medical purposes.....
<a data-ipb="nomediaparse" href="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-12-pot-restrict-blood-brain.html">http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-12-pot-restrict-blood-brain.html</a>
December 30, 2016 by Dennis Thompson
(HealthDay)Marijuana appears to hamper blood flow to the brain, which theoretically could affect your memory and ability to reason, a new study suggests.
<div></div>
Brain scans of nearly 1,000 past and present marijuana users revealed abnormally low blood flow throughout their brains, compared with a smaller control group of 92 people who'd never used pot.
"The differences were astonishing," said lead researcher Dr. Daniel Amen, a psychiatrist and founder of the U.S.-based Amen Clinics. "Virtually every area of the <a class="" href="http://medicalxpress.com/tags/brain/">brain</a> we measured was lower in blood flow and activity in the marijuana smokers than in the healthy group."
Blood flow was lowest in the hippocampus of marijuana users, which Amen found most troubling.
"The hippocampus is the gateway to memory, to get memories into long-term storage," Amen said. "That area distinguished healthy people from pot smokers better than any other area of the brain."
For this study, Amen and his colleagues evaluated brain scan data collected at nine outpatient neuropsychiatric clinics across the United States. The patients had sought treatment of complex psychological or neurological problems.
The brain scans relied on a technology called single-photon emission computed tomography, or SPECT, which can be used to track blood flow throughout the body.
The researchers found 982 patients in the database who had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder. People with this diagnosis have used marijuana so heavily that it has affected their health, their work or their family life.
The researchers found they could reliably distinguish the brains of marijuana users by checking blood flow to the hippocampus. Marijuana use is believed to interfere with memory formation by inhibiting activity in the hippocampus, which is the brain's key memory and learning center.
"The growing lore in our country is that marijuana is innocuous, it's good medicine and it should be legalized," Amen said. "This research directly challenges that notion."
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia now have laws legalizing marijuana in some form, primarily for medical purposes.....
<a data-ipb="nomediaparse" href="http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-12-pot-restrict-blood-brain.html">http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-12-pot-restrict-blood-brain.html</a>