Images of Addiction - Brain

These are images of the human brain exposed to methamphetamine. Note the
evident holes in the brain in 2-1, and the lack of red stuff in the middle of
that brain. The red stuff is dopamine transmission, and this guy's personality
has been shut down my methamphetamine.

In 2-2 you can see large areas of green in the brain. Green areas are less
metabolically active than the blue areas.

In 2-3, all the red areas in this scan are areas where 5% or more of the
tissue is dead.

In 2-4, the blue stuff is normal. Other colors reflect varying amounts of
brain damage.

2-5 SPECT scan of a normal brain

2-6 SPECT scan of a brain on methamphetamine


Images used with permission from Society of Neuroscience, Brookhaven
National Laboratory, UCLA School of Medicine, and Dr. Amen. May be used
for non-profit educational purposes.
Photos are released by the copyright holders for non-profit educational
purposes.

2-1

2-2

2-3

2-4

2-5
SPECT scan of a normal brain...

2.6
SPECT scan of one affected by methamphetamine abuse

Images used with permission from Society of Neuroscience, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and UCLA School of Medicine. May be used for non-profit educational purposes.
Photos are released by the copyright holders for non-profit educational purposes.

These photomicrographs courtesy of Dr. Feng Zhou at Indiana University
demonstrate the cellular destruction in the brain caused by
methamphetamine. This is the type of damage that produces the holes in the
brain seen by other scanning techniques.