M3 Assignment 2 Submission Assignment Task: Submit to complete this assignment Due October 25, 2017 Assignment 2: LASA # 1: Literature Review Paper The purpose of this assignment is to provide you with the opportunity to select a topic in the particu

Running head: REVIEW PAPER DRAFT OF LITERATURE FINDINGS 1

Cognition: As it Effects Brain Chemistry and Behavior

Rudimentary neurobiological research has improved our understanding of the genetic and biologic reasons for addiction. These findings have helped verify paths of pain and pleasure through the human brain, people who are investigating are beginning to realize how abused mind-altering substances, as well as stimulants, intermingle with different chemicals and cells in the brain. This paper talks about the effects that cocaine use has on a persons’ brain and behavior, which in turn leads to the cocaine users’ distinct needs. Hopefully, this information can answer the question: In what ways does substance abuse affect the brains chemistry and human behavior?

To understand what the issue is, we must try to understand why the cocaine user chooses to use this stimulant, how they become addicted to it, and what affects it has on them. The major causes of dependence and substance abuse is the risk factors and the social issues that lead to these circumstances. Weak families, poverty, poor upbringing, racism, a lack of education, social dysfunction, and substance-abusing friends are some reasons why stimulant users abuse substances (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). There are some genetic and environmental factors that cause people to choose to abuse substances as well (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). After the first use, a person continues to use the substance because he/she enjoys its effects: It changes their emotional state, mood, and perception (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). These effects are controlled by the brain; to comprehend this occurrence, it is necessary to understand a little basic neurobiology (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

For a drug to begin taking control over the body, it must initially enter the brain (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). There are various ways of consuming mood-altering substances such as, by smoking/inhaling, orally/swallowing, vein/needle use, or nasally/sniffing it (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

Taking in a substance orally or by swallowing goes directly to the stomach and into the gastrointestinal tract (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Mostly all substances effortlessly pass through the gastrointestinal tract into the bloodstream (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Other substances are metabolized in the gastrointestinal system, in doing so the gastrointestinal system destroys the substance (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

Substances that are breathed into the lungs stick to to the lining of the nasal passages which goes straight into the bloodstream (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Substances that are inhaled are normally transformed into a gas-like form by burning (marijuana) or by boiling away or by using high heat like with the crack cocaine or the ice form of methamphetamine (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). The lungs provide a huge surface area where gases pass straight into the bloodstream (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

Substances that are given through needle use/injected enter the bloodstream immediately, at a controlled rate, due to the limits of the capacity of the hypodermic syringe (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Substances taken in by these routes of administration are not metabolized (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

When a substance is taken in, it goes directly to the bloodstream, and is carried to different organ systems and body parts, and is also transported to the brain (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Drugs that travel the liver are metabolized in the liver (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Drugs that travel to the kidney are excreted by the kidneys (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). If a woman who is using drugs and is pregnant, the drug can enter the placenta, and the drug will travel to the fetus’ bloodstream (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Babies that nurse from their drug-addicted mothers may consume some of the drugs from breast milk and become addicted to drugs themselves (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

A drugs molecule must get through the chemical protection system to enter the brain, which is the blood-brain barrier (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Close-fitting cell-wall connections and a sheet of cells surrounding the blood vessels keeps huge and electrically charged particles from going into the brain (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Yet, little particles from cocaine effortlessly goes through the blood-brain barrier and travels to the brain (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). When the drugs get into the brain, drugs of abuse begin to start their mood-altering effects (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

The nervous system is a message system and the brain is the regulator (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). The brain handles information going into the body which produces action and muscle movement, modifies mood and insight, controls bodily functions, forms states of mind and opinions, and basically controls actions/behaviors (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

The brain is built into sections that are responsible for cognitive thoughts and tactile processes and coordination (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). These sections are constructed by complicated parts called circuits, which incorporates connections among billions of cells that the different stimulants of use may affect (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

The neuron sends information chemically and electrically to other neurons (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov). Its purpose is to send and receive information from one cell neuron to another by way of synapses (ncbi.mlm.nih.gov).

References

Center for substance abuse treatment. Treatment for stimulant use disorders. Rockville (MD): Substance abuse and mental health services administration (US); (1999). (Treatment Improvement Protocol (TIP) Series, no. 33 Chapter 2-How stimulants affect the brain and behavior. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK64328/