Researchers at UCLA's Semel Institute believe bupropion reduces the effects of meth use by preventing the drug from entering the user's brain cells and causing feelings of euphoria.
Currently, there are no medications approved for the treatment of methampetamine addiction.
"Finding new, effective ways to treat methamphetamine addiction is a key component of bringing the ongoing epidemic of abuse under control," said Dr. Thomas F. Newton, the study's principal investigator and professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior.
"Bupropion's novel effect on the brain is what makes this line of research so promising," added Newton, who also is a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. "These findings may point the way toward medications with even greater potential to be helpful."
The UCLA researchers used 20 active meth users in their test. The participants were given a series of three intravenous doses of methamphetamine at the beginning of the study and the same three doses six days after receiving treatment with bupropion (or a placebo in the control group).
Less High, Less Craving
Those who took the bupropion reported feeling less high the second time they were given the intravenous meth. After watching a video of actors portraying methamphetamine use, they also reported less intense craving than before the treatment with bupropion.Source: The UCLA study results appeared in the December 2005 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
