The Role of Lactate in Drug Addiction

Drug addiction is defined as frequent exposure to and compulsive searching for psychotropic medications despite their negative effects, leading to relapse after a period of abstinence. The possible psychophysiological processes associated with drug addiction include significant changes in neurotransmission, presynaptic and postsynaptic plasticity, and the structure of the reward circuit and neurons in other corticolimbic regions. These neuroadaptation processes indicate significant modifications to the machinery involved in protein synthesis and neuronal energy balance. Lactate, which was previously viewed as merely a waste product of anaerobic glycolysis, is being recognized as a critical regulatory factor for energy metabolism in the brain and signal transduction in drug addiction. Previous research has established a link between drug addiction and lactate. In this article, we summarize the evidence that addiction memory is related to the neuronal circuitry and molecular mechanisms that link lactate‐mediated metabolic coupling between neurons and astrocytes. We provide new perspectives on the prevention and management of drug addiction in the clinic by summarizing data pertaining to the possible pathways by which lactate functions as a signaling molecule in the pathophysiology of this illness.