Despite several compounds entering clinical trials for the negative and cognitive symptoms of schizophrenia, few have progressed beyond phase III. This is partly attributed to a need for improved preclinical models, to understand disease and enable predictive evaluation of novel therapeutics. To this end, one recent approach incorporates "dual-hit" neurodevelopmental insults like neonatal...
Administration of caffeine with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) alters the pharmacological properties of MDMA in rats. The current study examined whether caffeine alters the behavioural and neurochemical effects of mephedrone, which has similar psychoactive effects to MDMA. Rats received either saline, mephedrone (10 mg/kg), caffeine (10 mg/kg) or combined caffeine and mephedrone...
The substituted β‐keto amphetamine mephedrone (4‐methylmethcathinone) was banned in the UK in A pril 2010 but continues to be used recreationally in the UK and elsewhere. Users have compared its psychoactive effects to those of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( MDMA , ‘ecstasy’). This review critically examines the preclinical data on mephedrone that have appeared over the last 2–3 years and,...
Background and Purpose Recreational users report that mephedrone has similar psychoactive effects to 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( MDMA ). MDMA induces well‐characterized changes in body temperature due to complex monoaminergic effects on central thermoregulation, peripheral blood flow and thermogenesis, but there are little preclinical data on the acute effects of mephedrone or other...