How Does Methamphetamine Cause Its Effects?
No matter how methamphetamine is used, it eventually ends up in the blood stream where it is circulated throughout the brain. Methamphetamine can affect lots of brain structures, but the ones it affects the most are the ones that contain the chemical dopamine. The reason for this is that the shape, size and chemical structure of methamphetamine and dopamine are similar. Before I go on to explain more about these drugs, let me explain how the nerve cells work. Your brain is made up of billions of nerve cells (or neurons). Neurons come in all shapes and sizes, but most have three important parts: a cell body that contains the nucleus and directs the activities of the neuron; dendrites, short fibers that receive messages from other neurons and relay them to the cell body; and an axon, a long single fiber that carries messages from the cell body to dendrites of other neurons. There are many different neurotransmitters, but the one that is most affected by methamphetamine is dopamine. Dopam
