Elevated body fat increases amphetamine accumulation in brain: evidence from genetic and diet-induced forms of adiposity

Despite the high prevalence of obesity, little is known about its potential impact on the pharmacokinetics of psychotropic drugs. In the course of investigating the role of the microRNA system on neuronal signaling, we found that mice lacking the translin/trax microRNA-degrading enzyme display an exaggerated locomotor response to amphetamine. As these mice display robust adiposity in the context of normal body weight, we checked whether this phenotype might reflect elevated brain levels of amphetamine. To assess this hypothesis, we compared plasma and brain amphetamine levels of wild type and Tsn KO mice. Furthermore, we checked the effect of diet-induced increases in adiposity on plasma and brain amphetamine levels in wild type mice. Brain amphetamine levels were higher in Tsn KO mice than in wild type littermates and correlated with adiposity. Analysis of the effect of diet-induced increases in adiposity in wild type mice on brain amphetamine levels also demonstrated that brain amphetamine levels correlate with adiposity. Increased adiposity displayed by Tsn KO mice or by wild type mice fed a high-fat diet correlates with elevated brain amphetamine levels. As amphetamine and its analogues are widely used to treat attention deficit disorder, which is associated with obesity, further studies are warranted to assess the impact of adiposity on amphetamine levels in these patients.