Congratulations to Tyrone for his travel award from NIDA!
And congratulations to Tyrone for giving his first talk at CPDD!
We received notification that our R01 on xylazine and fentanyl co-use will be funded by NIDA on June 15, titled “Neurobehavioral mechanisms of xylazine and fentanyl co-use and withdrawal“. This grant will determine the behavioral and neurobiological impacts of xylazine adulteration of intravenously self-administered fentanyl in collaboration with Dr. Terry Hinds, Jr., and will utilize his state-of-the-art Pamgene Pamstation to uncover novel targets to reverse overdose.
Khatri, S., Sadek, S., Kendrick Jr., P.T., Bondy, E.O., Hong, M., Pauss, S., Luo, D., Prisinzano, T., Dunn, K.E., Marusich, J.A., Beckmann, J.S., Hinds Jr., T.D., Gipson, C.D. (in press). Xylazine co-use suppresses fentanyl consumption during self-administration and induces a unique sex-specific withdrawal syndrome that is naloxone-resistant in rats. Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology
Xylazine, a veterinary anesthetic, is becoming increasingly prevalent in the fentanyl drug supply within the United States, and opioid overdoses are on the rise, which is being attributed to xylazine’s adulteration of fentanyl. This is the first empirical publication demonstrating the impacts of intravenous xylazine on fentanyl self-administration and withdrawal as a function of xylazine dose and sex. This is also the first to quantitatively show that naloxone resistance occurs following xylazine/fentanyl co-use, and that these effects display a sex-specific trajectory whereby females are more susceptible to naloxone insensitivity and enhanced protracted withdrawal symptomatology following acute naloxone administration, which has enormous translational impact.
Congratulations Shailesh!
