Taken from: http://www.nature.com/npp/journal/v31/n7/full/1300979a.html
INTRODUCTION
Methamphetamine dependence directly or indirectly affects millions of Americans, and despite the efficacy of current treatments for some patients, relapse remains a significant problem (Huber et al, 1997; Rawson et al, 1999, 2004; Shoptaw et al, 1994). These studies, along with many others, underscore the challenge inherent in providing effective treatment to methamphetamine users.
A number of factors are thought to contribute to relapse, including drug availability and exposure to drug cues. Drug cues ('triggers') include people, places, and things associated with drug use. This has been studied more fully in opiate and cocaine dependence, although similar considerations are likely to apply to dependence on methamphetamine (Ehrman et al, 1992; O'Brien et al, 1976).
There have been sustained and partly successful efforts to develop medication treatments for drug abuse disorders (de Lima et al, 2002; Garbutt et al, 1999; Mattick et al, 2002; Sofuoglu and Kosten, 2005), although fewer medications have been studied in randomized clinical trials for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence (Galloway et al, 1994, 1996; Huber et al, 2000).
Bupropion is an attractive candidate medication for the treatment of methamphetamine dependence for several reasons. Bupropion is an antidepressant with stimulant properties (Stahl et al, 2004) that is effective for the treatment of nicotine dependence (Richmond and Zwar, 2003). In a clinical trial of bupropion for cocaine dependence (Margolin et al, 1995), an exploratory analysis suggested that patients with greater levels of depression may have benefited the most. Clinically, acute abstinence from methamphetamine in chronic users is associated with depression and impaired concentration (Newton et al, 2004). These symptoms may be due to methamphetamine-induced neuroadaptations in presynaptic DA neurons manifest as reduced striatal DA availability (McCann et al, 1998; Sekine et al, 2003; Volkow et al, 2001; Wilson et al, 1996). Bupropion inhibits the reuptake of DA and enhances residual DA neurotransmission, effects that may ameliorate methamphetamine abstinence symptoms. The current laboratory study was designed to assess the impact of bupropion treatment on the subjective effects produced by methamphetamine and to assess the effects of bupropion treatment on craving elicited by exposure to methamphetamine cues.
