Review Article
Alcohol Interactions with Psychostimulants: An Overview of Animal and Human Studies
Yusuf Althobaiti and Youssef Sari*
University of Toledo, College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, Toledo, OH, USA
- *Corresponding Author:
- Youssef Sari
Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics, University of Toledo
College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Health Science Campus, USA
Tel: 419-383-1507
E-mail: youssef.sari@utoledo.edu
Received date: May 18, 2016; Accepted date: June 04, 2016; Published date: June 11, 2016
Citation: Althobaiti Y, Sari Y (2016) Alcohol Interactions with Psychostimulants: An Overview of Animal and Human Studies. J Addict Res Ther 7:281. doi:10.4172/2155-6105.1000281
Copyright: © 2016 Althobaiti Y, Sari Y. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Abstract
Alcohol consumption with psychostimulants is very common among drug addicts. There is little known about the possible pharmacological interactions between alcohol and psychostimulants. Among most commonly co-abused psychostimulants with alcohol are methamphetamine, cocaine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetaminen, and nicotine. Co-abuse of alcohol with psychostimulants can lead to several neurophysiological dysfunctions such as decrease in brain antioxidant enzymes, disruption of learning and memory processes, cerebral hypo-perfusion, neurotransmitters depletion as well as potentiation of drug seeking behaviour. Moreover, co-abuse of alcohol and psychostimulants can lead to increase in heart rate, blood pressure, myocardial oxygen consumption and cellular stress, and the risk of developing different types of cancer. Co-abuse of alcohol with psychostimulants during pregnancy can lead to fetal brain abnormalities. Further studies are needed to investigate the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, and neurochemical changes on co-abuse of alcohol and psychostimulants.
