Targeting mGlu5 for Methamphetamine Use Disorder

Johannes Petzold; Karen K Szumlinski; Edythe D London

doi:10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107831

Targeting mGlu₅ for Methamphetamine Use Disorder

Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Aug:224:107831. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107831. Epub 2021 Mar 8.

Authors

Johannes Petzold¹, Karen K Szumlinski², Edythe D London³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Carl Gustav Carus School of Medicine, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany.
² Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, The Neuroscience Research Institute, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA, USA.
³ Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA; Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA; The Brain Research Institute, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. Electronic address: elondon@mednet.ucla.edu.

PMID: 33705840
DOI: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107831

Abstract

Methamphetamine abuse leads to devastating consequences, including addiction, crime, and death. Despite decades of research, no medication has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Methamphetamine Use Disorder. Thus, there is a need for new therapeutic approaches. Animal studies demonstrate that methamphetamine exposure dysregulates forebrain function involving the Group-I metabotropic glutamate receptor subtype 5 (mGlu₅), which is predominantly localized to postsynaptic sites. Allosteric modulators of mGlu₅ offer a unique opportunity to modulate glutamatergic neurotransmission selectively, thereby potentially ameliorating methamphetamine-induced disruptions. Negative allosteric modulators of mGlu₅ attenuate the effects of methamphetamine, including rewarding/reinforcing properties of the drug across animal models, and have shown promising effects in clinical trials for Anxiety Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder. Preclinical studies have also sparked great interest in mGlu₅ positive allosteric modulators, which exhibit antipsychotic and anxiolytic properties, and facilitate extinction learning when access to methamphetamine is removed, possibly via the amelioration of methamphetamine-induced cognitive deficits. Clinical research is now needed to elucidate the mechanisms underlying the mGlu₅ receptor-related effects of methamphetamine and the contributions of these effects to addictive behaviors. The growing array of mGlu₅ allosteric modulators provides excellent tools for this purpose and may offer the prospect of developing tailored and effective medications for Methamphetamine Use Disorder.

Keywords: Addiction; Allosteric modulators; Glutamate; Group-I metabotropic glutamate receptors; Medication development; Stimulants.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
Review

MeSH terms

Amphetamine-Related Disorders* / drug therapy
Animals
Clinical Trials as Topic
Humans
Methamphetamine*
Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5* / drug effects

Substances

Receptor, Metabotropic Glutamate 5
Methamphetamine