Alterations of the vascular basal lamina in the cerebral cortex in drug abuse: a combined morphometric and immunohistochemical investigation

The data of the present study show morphological changes of the basal lamina in the brain of polydrug abusers, which might represent the morphological substrate of a disturbed blood-brain barrier. However, it remains yet to be established if the observed changes are responsible for the alterations seen in different neuroimaging analyses and which drug might be of major pathogenetic significance.