Open Access

Effect of chronic and heavy drug abuse on biological aging

  • Authors:
    • Elena Vakonaki
    • Manolis Tzatzarakis
    • Konstantina Tsiminikaki
    • Despoina Nathena
    • Persefoni Fragkiadaki
    • Katerina Kalliantasi
    • Katerina Kanaki
    • Georgia Vaki
    • Stavros Plaitis
    • Dimitrios Tsoukalas
    • Athanasios Alegakis
    • Demetrios A. Spandidos
    • Aristidis Tsatsakis
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: February 5, 2019     https://doi.org/10.3892/wasj.2019.7
  • Pages: 67-73
  • Copyright: © Vakonaki et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Telomeres are structures of repeated sequences placed at the ends of chromosomes, which play a major role in various cellular processes. Over the past few years, telomere length has been associated with different environmental and physical factors, as well as with a number of diseases, such as cancer. A number of studies have associated telomere length with many substances that the participants have used, such as anxiolytics and hypnotics. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between telomere length and drug abuse. Following the methodology of quantitative fluorescent in situ hybridization (Q‑FISH), we demonstrated that there was a reduction in telomere length in drug abusers. Furthermore, we evaluated this decrease in relation to cell aging and demonstrated that the biological age of drug abusers, particularly the one of opiate users, was by far greater than their chronological age, depending on the difference between the telomere length of abusers and healthy individuals. The findings of this study indicate an association between telomere length and drug abuse, which leads to premature biological aging. The latter warrants further investigation in order to establish this association in different types of drugs with regard to the severity and the chronic abuse of drugs.
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March-April 2019
Volume 1 Issue 2

Print ISSN: 2632-2900
Online ISSN:2632-2919

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Copy and paste a formatted citation
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Spandidos Publications style
Vakonaki E, Tzatzarakis M, Tsiminikaki K, Nathena D, Fragkiadaki P, Kalliantasi K, Kanaki K, Vaki G, Plaitis S, Tsoukalas D, Tsoukalas D, et al: Effect of chronic and heavy drug abuse on biological aging . World Acad Sci J 1: 67-73, 2019
APA
Vakonaki, E., Tzatzarakis, M., Tsiminikaki, K., Nathena, D., Fragkiadaki, P., Kalliantasi, K. ... Tsatsakis, A. (2019). Effect of chronic and heavy drug abuse on biological aging . World Academy of Sciences Journal, 1, 67-73. https://doi.org/10.3892/wasj.2019.7
MLA
Vakonaki, E., Tzatzarakis, M., Tsiminikaki, K., Nathena, D., Fragkiadaki, P., Kalliantasi, K., Kanaki, K., Vaki, G., Plaitis, S., Tsoukalas, D., Alegakis, A., Spandidos, D. A., Tsatsakis, A."Effect of chronic and heavy drug abuse on biological aging ". World Academy of Sciences Journal 1.2 (2019): 67-73.
Chicago
Vakonaki, E., Tzatzarakis, M., Tsiminikaki, K., Nathena, D., Fragkiadaki, P., Kalliantasi, K., Kanaki, K., Vaki, G., Plaitis, S., Tsoukalas, D., Alegakis, A., Spandidos, D. A., Tsatsakis, A."Effect of chronic and heavy drug abuse on biological aging ". World Academy of Sciences Journal 1, no. 2 (2019): 67-73. https://doi.org/10.3892/wasj.2019.7