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Applied Sciences
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Drugs of Abuse and Beyond
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Drugs of Abuse and Beyond

A special issue of Applied Sciences (ISSN 2076-3417). This special issue belongs to the section "Biomedical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 October 2025 | Viewed by 622

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Alessia Catalano

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Dipartimento di Farmacia, Scienze del Farmaco, Università di Bari, Bari, Italy
Interests: antibacterials; antifungals; antitumor agents; medicinal chemistry; toxicology; small molecules; antimyotonic agents
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Drug abuse is a worldwide issue with significative direct or indirect adverse impacts on human health and social welfare. In addition, the potential association between childhood cancer risk and maternal prenatal substance use/abuse still remains uncertain; a relationship between drug abuse and the severity of tibial shaft fractures is also under study. Finally, drugs of abuse, as well as their metabolites, represent a group of emerging pollutants in treated wastewater, surface water, drinking water, or atmosphere.

The aim of this Special Issue is to publish a set of papers that characterize the best original articles, including in-depth reviews of the state of the art and original and very up-to-date contributions that involve drugs of abuse.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: pharmacokinetics; toxicity; metabolites; compounds detected in biological samples and their characteristics; extraction methods and analytical tools available for their detection; drug/alcohol consumption; association between use/abuse of drugs and cancer and/or fractures; and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on drug abuse patterns. I hope to receive a wide range of submissions and to collect relevant papers focusing on drugs of abuse and that these articles will be widely read and have a great influence in the field.

Dr. Alessia Catalano
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Applied Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • drug abuse
  • pharmacokinetics
  • toxicity
  • metabolites

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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19 pages, 873 KiB  
Review
Xylazine, a Drug Adulterant Whose Use Is Spreading in the Human Population from the U.S. to the U.K. and All Europe: An Updated Review
by Domenico Iacopetta, Alessia Catalano, Francesca Aiello, Inmaculada Andreu, Maria Stefania Sinicropi and Giovanni Lentini
Appl. Sci. 2025, 15(6), 3410; https://doi.org/10.3390/app15063410 - 20 Mar 2025
Viewed by 487
Abstract
Xylazine, commonly called “tranq” or “sleep cut”, is a strong α2-adrenergic agonist used in veterinary practice as a sedative, analgesic, and muscle-relaxing agent. It has never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human use, but its use by people is [...] Read more.
Xylazine, commonly called “tranq” or “sleep cut”, is a strong α2-adrenergic agonist used in veterinary practice as a sedative, analgesic, and muscle-relaxing agent. It has never been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for human use, but its use by people is on the rise. In the last decades, due to its low cost and ease of availability, it has often been illicitly used due to its abuse potential as a drug for attempted sexual assault and intended poisoning. In addition, xylazine’s presence in the human body has also been related to domestic accidental events. Generally, it is combined with multiple other drugs, typically by intravenous injection, potentiating the doping effects. Xylazine’s mechanism of action is different from that of other illicit opioids, such as heroin and fentanyl, and it has no known antidote approved for use in humans. The combination with fentanyl prolongs the euphoric sensation and may heighten the risk of fatal overdose. Furthermore, it may cause adverse effects, including central nervous system (CNS) and respiratory depression, bradycardia, hypotension, and even death. Recent reports of xylazine misuse have risen alarmingly and describe people who become “zombies” because of the drug’s harmful effects on the human body, including serious wound formation that could even lead to limb amputation. This paper is an extensive review of the existing literature about xylazine and specifically deals with the chemistry, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamic, and toxicological aspects of this compound, highlighting the most recent studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Drugs of Abuse and Beyond)
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