Oral administration of GZ-793A, a VMAT2 inhibitor, decreases methamphetamine self-administration in rats

Despite the high prevalence of use of methamphetamine (METH), there is no FDA-approved pharmacological treatment available currently for METH addiction. The vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT2) has been proposed as a novel target to treat METH abuse. GZ-793A, a lobelane analog and selective VMAT2 inhibitor, has been shown previously to decrease METH self-administration specifically when administered via the subcutaneous route in rats. Since oral administration is the preferred clinical route, the present experiments determined if oral administration of GZ-793A would decrease specifically METH self-administration. Experiments 1 and 2 assessed the dose-effect functions of oral administration of GZ-793A (30–240mg/kg) on intravenous METH self-administration and food-maintained responding, respectively. Experiments 3 and 4 assessed the time-course (20–180min pretreatment) of oral administration of GZ-793A on METH self-administration and food-maintained responding, respectively. Oral administration of GZ-793A dose-dependently decreased METH self-administration, with the highest dose (240mg/kg) producing an 85% decrease compared to control baseline. The decrease in METH self-administration produced by GZ-793A (120mg/kg) lasted at least 180min. In contrast, GZ-793A failed to alter food-maintained responding at any of the doses or pretreatment intervals tested. The oral effectiveness and the specificity of GZ-793A to decrease methamphetamine self-administration support the feasibility of developing VMAT2 inhibitors as treatments for METH abuse. •Oral GZ-793A decreased methamphetamine self-administration dose-dependently.•Within the same dose range, food-maintained responding was not altered.•The effect of GZ-793A lasted for at least 180 min.•Orally available VMAT2 inhibitors may be useful to treat methamphetamine abuse.