title: Methamphetamine-induced toxicity: The role of autophagy?
abstract: Methamphetamine (METH) is a highly potent and addictive drug with major medical, psychiatric, cognitive, socioeconomic, and legal consequences. It is well absorbed following different routes of administration and distributed throughout the body. METH is known as psychomotor stimulant with potent physiological outcomes on peripheral and central nervous systems, resulting in physical and psychological disorders. Autophagy is a highly conserved and regulated catabolic pathway which is critical for maintaining cellular energy homeostasis and regulating cell growth. The mechanism of autophagy has attracted considerable attention in the last few years because of its recognition as a vital arbiter of death/survival decisions in cells and as a critical defense mechanism in undesirable physiological conditions. The purpose of the current article was to review available evidence to find a relationship between METH toxicity and mechanisms associated with autophagy in different organs.
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Neurocognitive Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Ali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roohbakhsh
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; Neurocognitive Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.
authors.forename: Kobra
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shirani
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Research Center, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran; School of Pharmacy, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran. Electronic address: karimig@mums.ac.ir.
authors.forename: Gholamreza
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Karimi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001343:Autophagy / Q000187:drug effects*; D006801:Humans; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000737:chemistry / Q000633:toxicity*; D008954:Models, Biological; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D008694:Methamphetamine
keywords: Autophagy; Cardiovascular; Methamphetamine; Psychomotor; Toxicity