High cocaine doses can trigger brain to 'eat itself', research suggests

High doses of cocaine can lead the brain to trigger a process by which cells literally digest themselves, researchers say.

Study found that the drug can cause out-of-control “autophagy”,a self-degradative process that deals with destruction of cells in the body.

Dr Prasun Guha, from John Hopkins University School of Medicine in the US who led the research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes autophagy as a cleaner for the body.

In other words, when it is properly regulated, autophagy gets rid of unwanted debris in the body that is dissolved away by enzymes within cell"pockets".

But when autophagy becomes overactive, the process can make the brain cells eat themselves.

Post-mortems carried out on mice given high doses of cocaine showed clear signs of autophagy-induced cell death in their brains, scientists found.

They also discovered evidence of autophagy in the brain cells of mice whose mothers received the cocaine while pregnant.

The researchers' findings have led to a possible antidote, an experimental drug called CGP3466B which was able to protect mouse nerve cells from cocaine death due to autophagy.

Since the drug has already been tested in clinical trials to treat Parkinson's and motor neurone disease, it is known to be safe in humans, experts say.

However they also caution that much more research is still needed to find out whether the drug can prevent the harmful effects of cocaine in people.