Morales Puerto, NuriaGiménez Gómez, PabloPérez Hernández, MercedesAbuin Martínez, CristinaGil De Biedma Elduayen, LeticiaVidal Casado, RebecaGutiérrez López, María DoloresO'Shea Gaya, María EstherColado Megías, María Isabel2024-12-052024-12-052021-01-19Morales-Puerto N, Giménez-Gómez P, Pérez-Hernández M, Abuin-Martínez C, Gil de Biedma-Elduayen L, Vidal R, Gutiérrez-López MD, O'Shea E, Colado MI. Addiction and the kynurenine pathway: A new dancing couple? Pharmacol Ther. 2021 Jul;223:107807. doi: 10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107807. Epub 2021 Jan 19. PMID: 33476641.0163-725810.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107807https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/112132Drug use poses a serious threat to health systems throughout the world and the number of consumers rises relentlessly every year. The kynurenine pathway, main pathway of tryptophan degradation, has drawn interest in this field due to its relationship with addictive behaviour. Recently it has been confirmed that modulation of kynurenine metabolism at certain stages of the pathway can reduce, prevent or abolish drug seeking-like behaviours in studies with several different drugs. In this review, we present an up-to-date summary of the evidences of a relationship between drug use and the kynurenine pathway, both the alterations of the pathway due to drug use as well as modulation of the pathway as a potential approach to treat drug addiction. The review discusses ethanol, nicotine, cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine and opioids and new prospects in the drug research field are proposed.engjournal articlehttps://doi.org/10.1016/j.pharmthera.2021.107807https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0163725821000085restricted access612.8Kynurenine pathwayAddictionEthanolNicotineCannabisRo 61–8048Ciencias Biomédicas2490 Neurociencias