Newspaper Page Text
10
November 9, 1995 AUGUSTA FOCUS
Street drugs directly affect unborn baby
The unborn baby of a pregnant
woman taking street drugs such
as cocaine is the direct target of
those drugs, not a secondary vic
tim, according to a researcher
studying the way these drugs get
to the baby.
“The placenta is the direct tar
get of cocaine and amphet
amines,” said Dr. Vadivel
Ganapathy, biochemist at the
Medical College of Georgia study
ing the direct effect of these street
drugs on the placenta, an organ
that exists during pregnancy to
supply a fetus with nutrientsand
oxygen.
The premature birth of tiny
babies who have heart problems
or other birth defects often re
sults from mothers-to-be taking
cocaine and similar street drugs.
The baby’s problems were be
lieved to be the indirect result of
the drugs, which circulated in
the pregnant woman’s blood
stream constricting her blood
vessels, raising her blood pres
sure and increasing her heart
rate and so also restricting the
flow of nutrients and oxygen to
the baby.
But MCG researchers found
that two of the three pathways
these drugs take to the pregnant
woman’s brain also exist in the
placenta; the exception is the so
called “pleasure” pathway of the
neurotransmitter, dopamine,
which results in users feeling
elated and eventually addicted.
“Wenow know the drugs acton
the fetal brain the way they act
on the mother’s brain, increas
ing fetal blood pressure rates and
potentially causing heart prob
lems in the fetus just like in the
mother,” Dr. Ganapathy said of
his 1993 findings. Protective
transport mechanisms designed
to regular levels of these vaso
constrictors appear to be blocked
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in the mother and fetus by drugs
such as cocaine and its smokable
form, crack, which hasincreased
this drug’s popularity in recent
years.
In addition to dopamine, these
street drugs act on the transport
system of the neurotransmitters,
serotonin and norepinephrine,
both powerful vasoconstrictors,
which alleviate depression and
make people feel hyper. In fact,
the transport mechanism for se
rotonin is a target for many pop
ular antidepressants such as
Prozac, Dr. Ganapathy said.
“When cocaine comes in, it
blocks the effect of the serotonin
transporter and norepinephrine
levels goup.” Uterineblood pres
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Livingßetter
sure goes up, putting pressure
on the uterine artery which sup
plies the babyjwith oxygen and
nutrients. “When blood flow de
creases, the fetus doesn’t get the
nutrients he needs, so he suf
fers,” Dr. Ganapathy said.
The placenta has a protective
mechanism so that everything
in the mother’s bloodstream
doesn’t necessarily get to the fe
tus. “There has to be a specific
mechanism for something to get
from mother to baby,” Dr.
Ganapathy said.
The brush border membrane,
which is on the mother’s side of
the placenta, has specific trans
port proteins that recognize
items, such as nutrients or vita
mins, take them up and pass
them on to the fetus. The mem
brane contains hundreds of these
proteins for substances the baby
needs. Although he’s not certain
why the baby would need them,
Dr. Ganapathy has identified
transport proteins for serotonin
and norepinephrine in this mem
brane and conjectures that the
membrane on the fetus’ side,
called the basal membrane, has
them as well.
“The fact that the proteins (or
transport systems) are found in
the placenta is puzzling,” the re
searcher said. “But the moment
you block it, it causes a problem.
So it shows it has a normal func
tion. And it may be that the
normal function is helping keep
blood pressures low and blood
flow high.”
“Serotonin and norepinephrine
transporters play, we think, a
very important role in maintain
ing the blood flow to the placen
ta,” Dr. Ganapathy said, by keep
ing the two powerful vasocon
strictors from floating around in
high concentrations.
In work funded by the Nation
al Institutes of Health, Dr.
Ganapathy also is exploring the
similarity between the effects of
cocaine and similar drugs on the
fetus and preeclampsia, or preg
nancy-induced hypertension.
“When you look at the clinical
signs, they areexactly the same,”
he said. “One of the hypotheses
we are testing is that there is a
defect in the serotonin transport
system (in preeclampsia). The
transport system doesn’t func
tion normally, not because co
caineis around, but somethingis
wrong,” said Dr. Ganapathy, who
noted about an 80 percent reduc
tion in the serotonin transport
activity in the preeclamptic pla
centa compared to normal.
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Research provides hope
for an Alzheimer’s cure
By Larry Lucas
PhRMA Associate Vice President
Almost everybody knows at
least one family that’s been
touched by the tragedy of
Alzheimer’s Disease. There are
about 4 million Americans suf
fering from Alzheimer’s today.
This progressive disease usu
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And it’s about how the drug
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Alzheimer’s and, in Mr. Wirsig’s
words, helped Jane have a little
more time to live a little more
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Drug companies are
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normally.”
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For a free copy of “New Medi
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