Disulfiram, a US Food and Drug Admiistration (FDA)–approved medication for the treatment of chronic alcohol dependence, shows promise as a potential anxiolytic, early research suggests.
Japanese researchers, headed by Akiyoshi Saitoh, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmacy, Tokyo University of Science, compared the reactions of mice that received a classic anxiolytic agent (diazepam) to those that received disulfiram while performing a maze task and found comparable reductions in anxiety in both groups of mice.
Moreover, unlike diazepam, disulfiram caused no sedation, amnesia, or impairments in coordination.
"These results indicate that disulfiram can be used safely by elderly patients suffering from anxiety and insomnia and has the potential to become a breakthrough psychotropic drug," Saitoh said in a press release.
The study was published online March 7 in Frontiers in Pharmacology.
Inhibitory Function
Disulfiram inhibits the enzyme aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH), which is responsible for alcohol metabolism. Recent research suggests that disulfiram may have broader inhibitory functions.
In particular, it inhibits the cytoplasmic protein FROUNT, preventing it from interacting with two chemokine receptors (CCR2 and CCRs) that are involved in cellular signaling pathways and are associated with regulating behaviors, including anxiety, in rodents, the authors write.
"Although the functions of FROUNT-chemokines signaling in the immune system are well documented, the potential role of CNS-expressed FROUNT-chemokine-related molecules as neuromodulators remains largely unknown," they write.
