Cocaine hydrochloride, cocaine methiodide and methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) cause distinct alterations in the structure and composition of the gut microbiota.

ABSTRACT: Cocaine is a highly addictive psychostimulant drug of abuse that constitutes an ongoing public health threat. Emerging research is revealing that numerous peripheral effects of this drug may serve as conditioned stimuli for its central reinforcing properties. The gut microbiota is emerging as one of these peripheral sources of input to cocaine reward. The primary objective of the present study was to determine how cocaine HCl and methylenedioxypyrovalerone, both of which powerfully activate central reward pathways, alter the gut microbiota. Cocaine methiodide, a quaternary derivative of cocaine that does not enter the brain, was included to assess peripheral influences on the gut microbiota. Both cocaine congeners caused significant and similar alterations of the gut microbiota after a 10-

SUBMITTER: Angoa-Perez M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10447462 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature