title: Crack cocaine addiction, early life stress and accelerated cellular aging among women.
abstract: Early life stress (ELS) and addiction are related to age-related diseases and telomere shortening. However, the role of telomere length (TL) in crack cocaine addiction remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to investigate the TL in a sample of crack cocaine dependent-women who reported an ELS history and in a community-based sample of elderly women as a reference group for senescence.
  
  
  
  This study included treatment seeking crack cocaine dependents women (n=127) and elderly women without a psychiatric diagnosis (ELD, n=49). The crack cocaine sample was divided in two groups according to their Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) scores: presence of history of childhood abuse and neglect (CRACK-ELS) and absence of ELS history (CRACK). TL was assessed by T/S ratio obtained from peripheral blood DNA using quantitative PCR assay.
  
  
  
  CRACK and CRACK-ELS subjects exhibited shortened TL in comparison to the ELD group, despite their younger age. Among crack cocaine sample, CRACK-ELS group had significantly shorter telomeres than the CRACK group. Correlation analysis within crack cocaine group indicated that TL was negatively correlated with emotional abuse scores.
  
  
  
  These results support previous findings associating telomere shortening with both ELS and drug addiction. This study suggests new evidence of a distinct biological phenotype for drug-dependent women with ELS. The results support the biological senescence hypothesis underpinning ELS experience.
authors.affiliation: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (DCNL), Biomedical Research Institute (IPB), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Mateus Luz
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Levandowski
authors.affiliation: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (DCNL), Biomedical Research Institute (IPB), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Saulo Gantes
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Tractenberg
authors.affiliation: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (DCNL), Biomedical Research Institute (IPB), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucas Araújo
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: de Azeredo
authors.affiliation: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (DCNL), Biomedical Research Institute (IPB), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: De Nardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Diego L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Rovaris
authors.affiliation: Department of Genetics, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
authors.forename: Claiton H D
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Bau
authors.affiliation: Research Group in Behavioral Neuroscience of Bipolar Disorder, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lucas B
authors.initials: LB
authors.lastname: Rizzo
authors.affiliation: Research Group in Behavioral Neuroscience of Bipolar Disorder, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Pawan Kumar
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Maurya
authors.affiliation: Research Group in Behavioral Neuroscience of Bipolar Disorder, Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), São Paulo, SP, Brazil.
authors.forename: Elisa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Brietzke
authors.affiliation: Mood Disorders Research Program and Laboratory for Clinical and Translational Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, USA.
authors.forename: Audrey R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Tyrka
authors.affiliation: Developmental Cognitive Neuroscience Lab (DCNL), Biomedical Research Institute (IPB), Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Brazil.
authors.forename: Rodrigo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Grassi-Oliveira
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D054523:Adult Survivors of Child Abuse; D000375:Aging; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics; D016578:Crack Cocaine / Q000009:adverse effects*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000235:genetics*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D016615:Telomere / Q000235:genetics; D059506:Telomere Shortening / Q000502:physiology; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D016578:Crack Cocaine
keywords: Aging; Child abuse; Cocaine; Senescence; Substance-related disorders; Telomere