ArticleNeuropharmacology2024
Impacts of xylazine on fentanyl demand, body weight, and acute withdrawal in rats: A comparison to lofexidine.
Article in Neuropharmacology, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- An evaluation of N-acetylcysteine in a sequential oxycodone and cocaine rat self-administration model.Experimental and clinical psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Xylazine, veterinary anesthetic and recreational drug adulterant, reduces cephalic regeneration and alters defensive responding in planarians.Neurotoxicology · 2026Article
- Review
- Validation of an oral self-administration model of xylazine use in mice.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Preclinical abuse potential testing using behavioral economics and drug self-administration demand-curve analysis: A strategy to improve resolution of drug stratification for regulatory control.Pharmacological reviews · 2026Review
- The need to incorporate polysubstance use in neuropsychopharmacology research: Biological lessons and new opportunities.Addiction neuroscience · 2026Article
- Reinforcing effects of fentanyl/xylazine mixtures in monkeys responding under a food-versus-drug choice procedure.Behavioural pharmacology · 2026Article
- Ketamine enhancement of dexmedetomidine attenuation of methamphetamine-induced agitation in rats.Journal of pharmacy & pharmaceutical sciences : a publication of the Canadian Society for Pharmaceutical Sciences, Societe canadienne des sciences pharmaceutiques · 2026Article
- Unmasking a neurotoxic duo: a comprehensive overview of fentanyl-xylazine crosstalk in kinase pathways.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- The opioid flexion phenotype: postural flexion and nodding in the fentanyl era.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2026Article
- Fixed-proportion mixtures with the α2-adrenergic agonist clonidine or lofexidine do not alter fentanyl self-administration in non-opioid-dependent male and female rats.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Interactions between cardiorespiratory effects of fentanyl and xylazine and their reversal in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- A case against purity: prioritizing translational polysubstance use research.Current opinion in psychiatry · 2025Review
- Manifestations of potential xylazine withdrawal: A retrospective cohort study with nested case series.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- Xylazine exacerbates fentanyl-induced respiratory depression and bradycardia.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Multiple memory object-drug association task (MODAT) for the study of polydrug associations.Addiction neuroscience · 2025Article
- Effects of xylazine on naloxone-precipitated fentanyl withdrawal in male and female rats.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
- Enhancing translation: A need to leverage complex preclinical models of addictive drugs to accelerate substance use treatment options.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2024Review
- Xylazine does not enhance fentanyl reinforcement in rats: A behavioral economic analysis.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The opioid use landscape has recently shifted to include xylazine, a veterinary anesthetic, as an adulterant in the fentanyl supply. The health impacts of xylazine as an emerging fentanyl adulterant has raised alarm regarding xylazine as a public health threat, warranting research on the impacts of xylazine on fentanyl's behavioral effects. No prior studies have evaluated the effects of xylazine on fentanyl consumption at various unit doses, fentanyl demand, or withdrawal as compared to the Food and Drug Administration-approved opioid withdrawal medication, lofexidine (Lucemyra®). This is important because lofexidine and xylazine are both adrenergic α2a (A2aR) agonists, however, lofexidine is not a noted fentanyl adulterant. Here we evaluated xylazine and lofexidine combined with self-administered fentanyl doses in male and female rats and evaluated fentanyl demand, body weight, and acute withdrawal. Consumption of fentanyl alone increased at various unit doses compared to saline. Xylazine but not lofexidine shifted fentanyl consumption downward at a number of unit doses, however, both lofexidine and xylazine suppressed fentanyl demand intensity as compared to a fentanyl alone control group. Further, both fentanyl + lofexidine and fentanyl + xylazine reduced behavioral signs of fentanyl withdrawal immediately following SA, but signs increased by 12 h only in the xylazine co-exposed group. Weight loss occurred throughout fentanyl SA and withdrawal regardless of group, although the xylazine group lost significantly more weight during the first 24 h of withdrawal than the other two groups. Severity of weight loss during the first 24 h of withdrawal was also correlated with severity of somatic signs of fentanyl withdrawal. Together, these results suggest that body weight loss may be an important indicator of withdrawal severity during acute withdrawal from the xylazine/fentanyl combination, warranting further translational evaluation.
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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.