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Neuropathological Findings in Drug Abusers

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Neuropathology of Drug Abuse

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Abstract

Older autopsy studies of drug deaths predominantly focused on cerebrovascular complications or the consequences of hypoxic-ischemic conditions which were considered as unspecific secondary findings. However, subsequent systematic neuropathological studies have shown profound morphological CNS alterations. The major findings encompassed hypoxic-ischemic-independent neuronal loss, reduction of GFAP-positive astrocytes, widespread areas of demyelination and axonal damage with concomitant microglia activation, disturbances of various constituents of the BBB as well as reactive and degenerative cerebrovascular alterations.

These findings demonstrate that drugs of abuse initiate a cascade of interacting toxic, vascular, and hypoxic factors which finally result in widespread disturbances within the complex network of CNS cell-to-cell interactions.

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    Andreas Büttner

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Büttner, A. (2021). Neuropathological Findings in Drug Abusers. In: Neuropathology of Drug Abuse. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-60531-5_5

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