How Drugs Affect the Brain Chemistry, Research Paper Example

Brain Chemistry

Introduction

A drug’s effects on the body are determined to large extent by the manner in which it is administered. It is generally agreed that the quicker or faster a drug or any chemical substance gets into the bloodstream the more its effects will be. The four major ways in which a drug is administered are; through oral means, injection, inhalation or by directly assimilation via the body tissues. Injecting a drug directly into the blood is usually the fastest means of getting a drug to the brain (Julien, 2000).

Drugs and even alcohol produce their effects by changing the usual chemical activities in the brain. The level in which the drugs effect changes in the body or rather in the brain depend on the nature of the drug, its potency and the manner in which it is processed in the body. The type of effect is however as a result of the way the drug reacts at particular sites of action of the brain (Julien, 2000).

Brain basics and effect of drugs in the brain

Once a chemical substance like a drug gets via the blood-brain block, it starts to come across neurons which are the nerve cells that compose the communications routes of the brain and the nervous system as well. Nerve cells check on the alterations in the body and send the signals to other nerve cells and to response sites in the brain. The consistent flow of electrochemical impulses determines the manner in which humans think and/or act from moment to moment. Drugs and also alcohol are an unusual source and cause of change of this process. They change the regular operations and alter the flow of normal cell-cell communications. The drugs effect this by interacting with a particular portion of the nerve cell membrane referred to as receptor (Lesser & Kapklein, 2003).

Neurons communicate by transmitting or getting electrochemical messages. The signals move in form of waves of electrical current across the cell body of the neuron and also as chemical neurotransmitters that are sent via the synapse. The synapse is the space separating two neurons. Receptor cells in neighboring nerve cells are triggered by the transmitter which produces a new electric impulse that sets off a new set of neurotransmitters to nearest neurons. This process takes place within a flash (Lesser & Kapklein, 2003).

Conclusion

Drugs affect the brain by altering the manner in which neurotransmitters interact with receptors. For the people using the drugs for the first time, the chemical substances in the drugs will close into the brain receptors in a key-lock version where they either enhance or decrease the neural signal. They can even put off a signal resulting to alterations of receptivity to other signals. Alcohol for instance changes the sensitivity of the whole cell membrane while heroin affects the receptor cells involved in the control of internal pain relief of the body (Julien, 2000).

References

Julien, R. (2000). A Primer of Drug Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Lesser, M. & Kapklein, C. (2003). The Brain Chemistry Plan. New York: Perigee