Legal Medicine Studies on Sudden Death of Abusers of Methamphetamine.

许多人类甲基苯丙胺（MA）滥用者在注射MA后突然出现精神异常而死亡。血液和各器官中MA浓度的测量结果与急性MA过量死亡的结果不同。因此，这种情况下的直接死亡原因存在问题。为了阐明这一现象的机制，我们给大鼠注射MA，研究MA在体内的分布与脑内去甲肾上腺素（NE）、多巴胺（DA）和血清素（5-HT）浓度的变化。然后阐明了服用MA后出现的各种症状之间的关系。在服用MA后突然死亡的大鼠，在死亡前立即注意到心率异常增加和体温突然升高。前者与脑内NE的变化有关，后者与脑内5-HT的变化有关。MA给药后大鼠的各种异常行为与大鼠体内MA浓度无关。相反，它被证明与大脑中NE或DA的变化有关。当大鼠长期服用MA时，在一定间隔内测量的脑内儿茶酚胺浓度显示出与急性MA中毒死亡的大鼠不同的特征性变化。另一方面，在人类习惯性饮酒者中，统计显示，在滥用MA期间，异常精神病的发生率更高。高浓度乙醇偏好大鼠和非高浓度乙醇偏好大鼠分别给予MA后，前者的乙醇偏好发生变化。两组服用MA后异常行为的发生率也存在差异。这种反应的差异显然与两组大脑中原始儿茶酚胺浓度的差异有关。根据这些结果，我们得出结论，MA滥用者出现各种精神异常并随后猝死的原因之一是服用MA前后脑内儿茶酚胺浓度的异常变化。这可能会影响心脏和循环系统的其他部分。少

Many human methamphetamine(MA) abusers die suddenly after MA injection following an abrupt occurrence of mental abnormalities. Measurement of MA concentration in the blood and each organ revealed results different from those in death due to an acute overdose of MA. The direct cause of death in such cases therefore presents problems. In an attempt to clarify the mechanism of this phenomenon, MA was administered to rats to study the distribution of MA in vivo along with the changes of the concentrations of norepinephrine(NE), dopamine(DA) and serotonin(5-HT) in the brain. The relathionship between various symptoms appearing after MA administration was then elucidated. In rats which died suddenly after MA administration, an abnormal increase of heart rate and an abrupt rise in body temperature was noted immediately before death. The former was suggested to be related to changes of NE in the brain, whereas the latter with 5-HT in the brain. Various abnormal behaviors of rats after MA admin … More istration showed no correlation with MA concentration in the body of the rats.Rather, it was shown to be related to changes of NE or DA in the brain. When MA was chronically administered to rats, catecholamine concentrations in the brain measured at certain intervals showed characteristic changes to be distinguished from those in rats which died of acute MA toxicity. In human habitual alcohol drinkers, on the other hand, the incidence of abnormal pyschoses was shown to be statistically higher during MA abuse. When MA was administered to rats with and without high ethanol preference, ethanol preference changed after MA administration in the former. The incidence of abnormal behavior after MA administration was also different between these two groups. Such a difference in response was apparently related to the difference in the original catecholamine concentration in the brain between these two groups. According to these results, we conclude that one of the causes of the appearance of various mental abnormalities in human MA abusers and subsequent sudden death is the abnormal changes of catecholamine concentration in the brain before and after MA administration.This is perhaps influencing the heart and other parts of the circulatory system. Less