Abstract
Methamphetamine (MA) induced addiction and neuroinflammation has been implicated. Based on the neuroinflammation hypothesis, this study aims to investigate how exercise influences the craving of patients in MA withdrawal, and explore the mechanism of peripheral inflammation. A total of 90 patients in MA withdrawal were recruited. No difference was noted in the number of years of drug use and the frequency of drug use among patients, and the withdrawal time was within 2 months. The subjects were grouped based on the degree of craving induced by the cues: non-craving control group (NCC group), craving control group (CC group), and craving exercise group (CE group). The CE group was subjected to aerobic combined resistance training. Then, the ELISA method was used to detect plasma IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-1β concentrations; Visual Analog Scale (VAS) measurement of cue-induced cravings under Virtual Reality (VR) exposure (VR-VAS) and the Desires for Drug Questionnaire (DDQ) were used to assess cravings. Consequently, plasma IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, levels, and the VR-VAS and DDQ scores of MA withdrawal patients were significantly reduced after exercise. This study confirmed that 8 weeks of incremental load aerobic combined with resistance training reduces peripheral inflammation and significantly reduces the level of craving for MA.