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Review
. 2023 Nov;84(7):1411-1426.
doi: 10.1002/ddr.22110. Epub 2023 Aug 21.

β_lactam antibiotics against drug addiction: A novel therapeutic option

Peyman Esmaili-Shahzade-Ali-Akbari  1 , Amir Ghaderi  1 , Seyyed Mohammad Mehdi Hosseini  2 , Fatemeh Nejat  3 , Maryam Saeedi-Mofrad  4 , Motahareh Karimi-Houyeh  4 , Alireza Ghattan  4 , Amirreza Etemadi  4 , Elham Rasoulian  5 , Arina Khezri  6
Affiliations
Review

β_lactam antibiotics against drug addiction: A novel therapeutic option

Peyman Esmaili-Shahzade-Ali-Akbari et al. Drug Dev Res. 2023 Nov.

Abstract

Drug addiction as a problem for the health of the individual and the society is the result of a complex process in which there is an interaction between brain nuclei and neurotransmitters (such as glutamate). β-lactam antibiotics, due to their enhancing properties on the glutamate transporter glutamate transporter-1, can affect and counteract the addictive mechanisms of drugs through the regulation of extracellular glutamate. Since glutamate is a key neurotransmitter in the development of drug addiction, it seems that β-lactams can be considered as a promising treatment for addiction. However, more research in this field is necessary to identify other mechanisms involved in their effectiveness. This article is a review of the studies conducted on the effect of β-lactam administration in preventing the development of drug addiction, as well as their possible cellular and molecular mechanisms. This review suggests the clinical use of β-lactam antibiotics that have weak antimicrobial properties (such as clavulanic acid) in the treatment of drug dependence.

Keywords: EAAT2; addiction; beta-lactam; dependence; tolerance; withdrawal.

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