Abnormal Brain Structure Implicated in Stimulant Drug Addiction

Karen D. Ersche, et al.
Science 335, 601 (2012);
DOI: 10.1126/science.1214463

Addiction to drugs is a major contemporary public health issue, characterized by maladaptive
behavior to obtain and consume an increasing amount of drugs at the expense of the individual’s
health and social and personal life. We discovered abnormalities in fronto-striatal brain systems
implicated in self-control in both stimulant-dependent individuals and their biological siblings
who have no history of chronic drug abuse; these findings support the idea of an underlying
neurocognitive endophenotype for stimulant drug addiction.