The Toxicology of Drugs of Abuse

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About this Research Topic

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Background

Drug dependence and substance abuse are compound-driven neurological diseases that mediate adverse consequences if unchecked or untreated by medical professionals. Over the years, knowledge acquired from in vitro, in vivo, and observational drug abuse studies have better elucidated how molecular signaling mechanisms translate to and, further, modulate adverse physiological and behavioral outcomes. While high-quality research has been conducted in investigating drugs of abuse, emerging novel chemical classes (i.e., fentanyl derivatives, synthetic cannabinoids, etc.) with unique molecular structure-activity relationships and toxicodynamics/toxicokinetic have challenged the scientific and regulatory communities. Better defining mechanisms of toxicities for current and novel drugs of abuse could offer insight on how to derive improved interventive therapeutics and regulatory practices for mitigating drug-driven adverse outcomes.

The goal of this Research Topic is to 1) examine the toxicological effects of current and emerging drug classes by assessing underlying neurotoxicological and behavioral mechanisms that promulgate adverse effects (i.e., tolerance, dependence, withdrawal, death), and 2) highlight novel therapeutic interventions and testing strategies to help quantitatively characterize and mitigate harmful drug abuse behaviors.

The aim of this Research Topic is to highlight interdisciplinary research on molecular, behavioral, and regulatory toxicology, spanning both current and emerging drugs of abuse.

Topics include:

• Structure activity relationships, toxicodynamics, and toxicokinetics of novel opioid compounds (i.e., fentanyl derivatives)
• Structure activity relationships, toxicodynamics, and toxicokinetics of novel synthetic cannabinoids
• Synthetic drug of abuse behavioral studies
• Metabolomics of novel synthetic drugs of abuse
• In vivo self-administration and drug-discrimination studies of novel synthetic drugs of abuse
• Chronic dosing studies and novel interventive therapies for opioid compounds
• Neurobiological assessment of endocannabinoid regulation for chronic marijuana users
• Retrospective assessment of intoxication of drugs of abuse in humans (particularly opioids, marijuana, and alcohol)
• Regulatory toxicology investigating marijuana, alcohol, and novel drugs of abuse (opioids, delta-8-THC, synthetic cannabinoids)
• Effects of synthetic drugs of abuse on long-term cognition
• Novel interventional medicinal and psychiatric therapies for recovering chronic drug abusers (opioids, synthetic cannabinoids, etc)
• Novel hallucinogenics and mechanisms of neurotoxicity (cathinone compounds)
• Receptor-kinetic studies elucidating novel affinity and functionality of synthetic drugs of abuse.

Keywords: toxicology, drug abuse

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