Possible Interaction: Buspirone and Cocaine

“In the female participants (n = 23), there was a significant treatment-by-time interaction effect (χ²₁ = 15.26, P < .0001), reflecting an increase in cocaine use by those receiving buspirone , relative to placebo, early in the outpatient treatment phase.”

“Two such drugs, lorcaserin (Belviq; a drug with serotonin [5-HT]2C receptor agonist properties) and buspirone (Buspar; a drug with 5-HT1A receptor partial agonist and dopamine D3/D4 receptor antagonist properties) can produce modest decreases in cocaine self-administration in rhesus monkeys.”

“ Buspirone significantly reduced responding maintained by cocaine , and shifted the dose–effect curve downwards.”

“Overall, these results suggest that buspirone may reduce the likelihood of relapse to cocaine and methamphetamine use under some conditions, although this speculation must be interpreted with caution given buspirone's similar potency to attenuate inactive-lever responding.”

“Results clearly demonstrated that buspirone (at the two higher doses) attenuated the retreat behavior of animals approaching a goal box for IV cocaine -- an action consistent with its anxiolytic-like actions in the clinic.”

“Acute pretreatment with buspirone (0.1 and 0.3 mg/kg, IV) increased rates of cocaine self-administration without disrupting food pellet consumption.”

“In tests for conditioning, however, the effects of buspirone and MK-801 depended upon their association with cocaine.”

“Moreover, a dose of 10 mg/kg of buspirone co-administered with various doses of cocaine (1.25-10 mg/kg) engendered a rightward shift in the cocaine dose-response curve.”

“Thus, behaviorally active doses of buspirone failed to attenuate the discriminative stimulus effects of cocaine in a sensitive behavioral paradigm.”