ArticleThe Journal of clinical investigation2021
The 5α-reductase inhibitor finasteride reduces opioid self-administration in animal models of opioid use disorder.
Article in The Journal of clinical investigation, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Steroid 5α-reductases in the brain: From neurosteroidogenesis to therapeutic implications.Frontiers in neuroendocrinology · 2026Review
- A Scoping Review of Non-Opioid Therapeutics for Opioid Withdrawal: Translational Relevance to Neonatal Opioid Withdrawal Syndrome (NOWS) Research.Clinical and translational science · 2026Article
- An exploratory analysis of 5-alpha reductase inhibitors and risk of opioid use disorder among male Medicare beneficiaries receiving prescription opioid medications.The American journal on addictions · 2026Article
- The role of neuroactive steroids in psychiatric and neurological disorders: Neurobiology and therapeutic perspectives.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Effects of progestogen neurosteroids on locomotor activity in zebrafish embryos and larvae.Fish physiology and biochemistry · 2025Article
- New directions in neurosteroid therapeutics in neuropsychiatry.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2025Review
- Opioid withdrawal: role in addiction and neural mechanisms.Psychopharmacology · 2023Review
- Identification of nicotine-seeking and avoiding larval zebrafish using a new three-choice behavioral assay.Frontiers in molecular neuroscience · 2023Article
- A Critical Review of Zebrafish Neurological Disease Models-2. Application: Functional and Neuroanatomical Phenotyping Strategies and Chemical Screens.Oxford open neuroscience · 2023Article
- Acute stress impairs sensorimotor gating via the neurosteroid allopregnanolone in the prefrontal cortex.Neurobiology of stress · 2022Article
- Functional Characterization of Sodium Channel Inhibitors at the Delta-Opioid Receptor.ACS omega · 2022Article
- The steroidogenic inhibitor finasteride reverses pramipexole-induced alterations in probability discounting.Brain research bulletin · 2022Article
- Allopregnanolone: The missing link to explain the effects of stress on tic exacerbation?Journal of neuroendocrinology · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Opioid use disorder (OUD) has become a leading cause of death in the United States, yet current therapeutic strategies remain highly inadequate. To identify potential treatments for OUD, we screened a targeted selection of over 100 drugs using a recently developed opioid self-administration assay in zebrafish. This paradigm showed that finasteride, a steroidogenesis inhibitor approved for the treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia and androgenetic alopecia, reduced self-administration of multiple opioids without affecting locomotion or feeding behavior. These findings were confirmed in rats; furthermore, finasteride reduced the physical signs associated with opioid withdrawal. In rat models of neuropathic pain, finasteride did not alter the antinociceptive effect of opioids and reduced withdrawal-induced hyperalgesia. Steroidomic analyses of the brains of fish treated with finasteride revealed a significant increase in dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS). Treatment with precursors of DHEAS reduced opioid self-administration in zebrafish in a fashion akin to the effects of finasteride. These results highlight the importance of steroidogenic pathways as a rich source of therapeutic targets for OUD and point to the potential of finasteride as a new treatment option for this disorder.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.