Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City used a brain imaging technique called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study the brains of 12 younger and 12 older healthy male adolescents; 11 adolescents with schizophrenia and 17 matched controls; 15 adolescent schizophrenia patients who smoked marijuana and 17 matched controls; and 15 marijuana smokers and 15 non-drug users.

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They found repeated marijuana use to be associated with abnormalities in the development of a specific language/auditory pathway in the brain.

"Because this language/auditory pathway continues to develop during adolescence, it is most susceptible to the neurotoxins introduced into the body through marijuana use," researcher Dr Manzar Ashtari, an associate professor of radiology and psychiatry, said in a prepared statement.

Marijuana linked to abnormalities
The study found no abnormal developmental changes in this language pathway in the brains of the healthy adolescents, but the researchers did detect abnormalities in the brains of both marijuana users and schizophrenia patients.

"The finding suggests that in addition to interfering with normal brain development, heavy marijuana use in adolescents may also lead to an earlier onset of schizophrenia in individuals who are genetically predisposed to the disorder," co-principal investigator Dr Sanjiv Kumra, an assistant professor of psychiatry, said in a prepared statement.

The study authors said more research is needed to determine whether these brain changes are temporary or permanent.

The findings were presented Wednesday at the Radiological Society of America annual meeting, in Chicago. – (HealthDayNews)

Read more: Dagga

December 2005
 

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