Role of Exogenous Progesterone in the Treatment of Men and Women with Substance Use Disorders: A Narrative Review

Substance use disorders (SUDs) remain problematic as many individuals are untreated or do not benefit from the currently available interventions. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel pharmacological interventions to treat SUDs. Evidence suggests that the female sex hormone, progesterone, a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:CNS drugs 2018-05, Vol.32 (5), p.421-435
Main Authors: Peltier, MacKenzie R., Sofuoglu, Mehmet
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Addictions
Addictive behaviors
Alcohol
Amphetamines
Animals
Behavior
Cocaine
Cognitive ability
Drug abuse
Drug addiction
Drug overdose
Drug therapy
Emotions
Gender differences
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Metabolites
Methamphetamine
Narcotics
Neurology
Neurosciences
Nicotine
Opioids
Pharmacotherapy
Pregnanolone
Progesterone
Psychiatry
Psychopharmacology
Review Article
Rodents
Smoking
Substance abuse treatment
Substance use disorder
Tobacco
Womens health
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Summary:Substance use disorders (SUDs) remain problematic as many individuals are untreated or do not benefit from the currently available interventions. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel pharmacological interventions to treat SUDs. Evidence suggests that the female sex hormone, progesterone, attenuates the craving for and the euphoric effects of drugs of abuse. Research to date has demonstrated that progesterone may modulate responses to drugs of abuse and may have utility as a novel treatment for SUDs. A literature search was conducted to identify and examine studies that administered exogenous progesterone. Sixteen publications were identified, exploring the utility of exogenous progesterone or its metabolite, allopregnanolone, among a range of substances, including amphetamines (one study), benzodiazepines (one study), cocaine (nine studies), and tobacco/nicotine (five studies). Results indicated that exogenous progesterone and, its metabolite allopregnanolone, demonstrated preliminary efficacy as a treatment for substance use in both men and women. Notably, progesterone appears to target negative affect and augment cognitive functioning, especially among female substance users. Additional research is needed to explore the potential use of exogenous progesterone and allopregnanolone in the treatment of SUDs, including that associated with alcohol and opioids, but considering the current promising findings, exogenous progesterone and allopregnanolone may have utility as novel pharmacological treatments for SUDs.
ISSN:1172-7047
1179-1934
DOI:10.1007/s40263-018-0525-5