CNS recovery from cocaine, cocaine and alcohol, or opioid dependence: a P300 study.
OBJECTIVE
The goal of the present study was to evaluate the relative effects of cocaine, cocaine and alcohol, or opioid dependence on P300 event-related potentials (ERPs). In addition, the effects of selected premorbid and comorbid factors were examined.


METHODS
P300 ERPs were recorded from 72 residential treatment program patients, characterized by a history of either cocaine (n=25), or cocaine and alcohol (n=18), or opioid (n=29) dependence, and 14 non-drug-dependent community volunteers. The 86 subjects completed a visual continuous performance test formed by a series of 150 presentations of individual consonant letters. They were asked to press a key whenever a letter was presented twice in succession.


RESULTS
Analyses of P300 ERPs obtained on target trials revealed a similar amplitude decrement in all the patient groups. Further analyses of P300 activity in the 3 drug-dependent patient groups revealed a negative correlation between P300 amplitude and the number of DSM-IIIR childhood conduct disorder criterion behaviors as well as a positive correlation between P300 amplitude and the duration of drug abstinence.


CONCLUSIONS
P300 amplitude in drug-dependent patients is influenced by a complex interaction between CNS pathology that predates, and probably promotes, the onset of drug dependence and CNS pathology that resolves during the process of recovery from drug dependence.
Bauer
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Department of Psychiatry MC2103, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT 06030-2103, USA. bauer@psychiatry.uchc.edu
D000328:Adult; D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants / Q000494:pharmacology*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D019955:Conduct Disorder; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology*; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009294:Narcotics / Q000494:pharmacology*; D010554:Personality Disorders; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*
D002492:Central Nervous System Depressants; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D009294:Narcotics; D000431:Ethanol; D003042:Cocaine