Vitamin D Dopamine

Vitamin D Dopamine

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Elsevier

Journal of Medical Hypotheses and Ideas

Regular article

Vitamin D as an effective treatment approach for drug abuse and addiction

Under a Creative Commons license

open access

Abstract

Effective pharmacological treatments for drug abuse and addiction have not yet been identified. Evidences show that vitamin D may be involved in neurodevelopment and may have a neuroprotective effect on dopaminergic pathways in the adult brain. The fact that vitamin D increases the levels of tyrosine hydroxylase expression implies that vitamin D could modulate dopaminergic processes. Drugs of abuse act through different mechanisms of action and on different locations in the brain reward system; however, all of them share a final action in which they increase dopamine levels in the reward pathway. Vitamin D-treated animals showed significant attenuated methamphetamine-induced reductions in dopamine and metabolites when compared to control, indicating that vitamin D provides protection for the dopaminergic system against the depleting effects of methamphetamine. In this article, it is speculated that vitamin D would be an effective treatment approach for drug abuse and addiction, if we consider that vitamin D would provide protection for the dopaminergic system against dopamine-depleting effects of drugs, as it did for methamphetamine. This hypothesis can provide a new direction towards a new treatment approach for drug abuse and addiction, as we have no pharmacological treatments at our disposal at the present moment, although several issues need further investigation.

Highlights

â–º All drugs of abuse increase dopamine levels. â–º Vitamin D may have a neuroprotective effect on dopaminergic pathways. â–º Effective treatments for drug abuse and addiction have not yet been identified. â–º Vitamin D may be an effective treatment approach for drug abuse and addiction.

Keywords

Vitamin D

Drug abuse

Addiction

Dopamine

Treatment

Copyright © 2013 Tehran University of Medical Sciences. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Vitamin D Dopamine

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2251729413000050

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