Molecular Research on the Drug Toxicity

Dear Colleagues,

Besides having therapeutic and beneficial outcomes, drug intake may produce an array of adverse effects, limiting the therapeutic efficacy of constituent substances and defining the width of the therapeutic window. Although pharmaceutical drug toxicity has been thoroughly assessed according to the rigorous protocols that have been carried out during development processes, several undesirable effects may unpredictably occur due to chronic drug consumption or other uncontrollable factors, such as drug target and metabolic enzyme polymorphisms. Moreover, the toxicity resulting from polydrug exposure is often difficult to define due to the number of possible combinations in experimental settings. In case of psychotropic drug diversion, these unexpected events may result in severe intoxication, with potentially fatal consequences.

Indeed, psychotropic drugs and drugs of abuse toxicity are directly experimented with by users at first usage, with unforeseen ramifications. In particular, the toxicity from new psychoactive substances (NPSs) represents the most challenging aspect of this ever-growing phenomenon. This is a result of the lack of pharmacological information on these substances at their release on the illegal market. Moreover, adulteration may further complicate this issue.

In this context, this Special Issue aims to collect original research papers, letters to the editor, review articles, perspective articles and brief communications to contribute to the development of valid knowledge on the molecular mechanisms of drug toxicity.

Suggested topics include the following:

• Studies on drugs and NPS metabolism.
• Studies and updated reviews on drugs, drugs of abuse and NPS-related toxicity.
• Development and validation of analytical methods for the identification and quantification of drug markers in conventional and non-conventional biological matrices.
• Studies on the molecular mechanisms of drug toxicity.
• Case reports on drugs and their adulterants' toxicity.

Dr. Annagiulia Di Trana
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. International Journal of Molecular Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. There is an Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal. For details about the APC please see here. 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.

• drug toxicity
• new psychoactive substances
• toxicology
• drug metabolism
• drug intoxication