Carvedilol affects the physiological and behavioral response to smoked cocaine in humans

https://doi.org/10.1016/S0376-8716(00)80009-5Get rights and content

Abstract

The noradrenergic system is implicated in mediating some of the physiological effects of cocaine. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether treatment with an adrenergic blocker, carvedilol, which would be expected to attenuate the physiological effects of cocaine, would also attenuate the subjective and behavioral response to cocaine in humans. Twelve crack cocaine users participated in this double-blind, placebo-controlled outpatient study. Acute treatment with 50 mg of oral carvedilol attenuated the smoked cocaine-induced increases in heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The number of cocaine self-administrations was lower under 25 mg carvedilol treatment condition compared with 50 mg carvedilol or placebo treatment conditions. The subjective responses to smoked cocaine deliveries were not affected by carvedilol treatment. These results suggest that acute treatment with carvedilol attenuates the physiological effects of smoked cocaine. The effects of carvedilol on cocaine self-administration need to be studied further.

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      CAR is an alpha1- and beta-adrenergic receptor blocker used primarily for the treatment of congestive heart failure and hypertension (Frishman, 1998). CAR may also have utility for the treatment of cocaine addiction as indicated by a human laboratory study in which CAR attenuated both cocaine-induced blood pressure and heart rate increases, as well as cocaine self-administration behavior (Sofuoglu, Brown, Babb, Pentel, & Hatsukami, 2000). In addition, CAR has been administered to cocaine users for the treatment of cardiac disorders including myocardial infarction, heart failure and cocaine-induced cardiac toxicity (Littmann, Narveson, Fesel, & Marconi, 2013; Ocal et al., 2015; Self, Rogers, Mancell, & Soberman, 2011).

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