Cocaine addiction, it could be the fault of childhood trauma

The immune system goes to the witness stand. For a study – funded by the Department of Health and just published on Biological Psychiatry – it would be the major candidate in the development of drug addiction. But let's go and understand how the experts came to this conclusion

• INFANT INJURY AND IMMUNE SYSTEM
Researchers from the Santa Lucia Foundation, in collaboration with the Universities of Rome Sapienza and Tor Vergata, badyzed 40 people in the treatment of a cocaine addiction disorder, noting that exposure to this substance had induced an impairment of immune system function. But, surprisingly, this condition was particularly pronounced in those who had been abused and abused during childhood.

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"Abuse, especially emotional, causes in the child a stress capable of activating an abnormal inflammatory response and altering the maturation of the immune system with a permanent modification of its functioning, it binds to the Tlr4 receptors of the immune system to produce its effects, this particular sensitivity of the immune system – explains Valeria Carola researcher of the laboratory of behavioral neurobiology of the Irccs Santa Lucia and research coordinator – makes the subject more exposed to the risk of addiction and relapse during abstinence.In addition, the risk of central nervous system diseases induced by drug addiction increases, especially stroke "

• ALSO" UMORE NOT RISING
Abuse and abuse during childhood therefore play an important role in ns the definition the bads of the adult individual. "For a long time, the genetic predisposition of the individual was considered a priority cause, leaving little hope for the possibility of recovery Today, researchers say, we are seeing more and more the Key role of environmental and relational factors, by epigenetic mechanisms, modify the reading of our DNA, are able to modify certain functions of the body. "

And for research, alterations of the immune system may have effects not only on addictions, but also on mood: the cross-section of data collected from the subjects examined, such as blood tests and biological functions of the central nervous system, the experts showed how the formation of the dopaminergic system is also impaired. In particular, functional alterations have been found in the ventral tegmental region (VTA), a deep region of our brain, whose dopaminergic system originates and which affects both the cognitive functions of the person and the regulation of the patient. mood and rewarding properties of the

• NEW ROADS FOR MEDICINAL THERAPY
"The results invite us to consider the possibility of pharmacologically modifying inflammatory factors during the recovery pathways of dependent subjects." – observes Luisa Lo Iacono researcher at the University Sapienza and Santa Lucia – we have already noted that the pharmacological modulation of the inflammatory response is able to prevent both the development of dependence and relapse after a period of abstinence ".