Frontiers in Pharmacology
2026
Michael B. Gatch, Shuping Jia, Ritu A. Shetty et al.
N-Cyclohexyl butylone and N-cyclohexyl methylone are cathinones found on the street that produce morbidity and mortality, but are not yet legally controlled, and there has been little or no pharmacological testing of these compounds. Both compounds have a large moiety on the N-position that may alter their pharmacological effects. Locomotor stimulant effects of N-cyclohexyl butylone and...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
April 4, 2025
Rebecca D. Hill, Ritu A. Shetty, Nathalie Sumien et al.
New synthetic tryptamine derivatives have emerged in the underground market. They act on serotonin receptors mimicking the effects of hallucinogenic drugs such as DOM. The DEA has identified three tryptamine derivatives of concern, 5-MeO-DBT, 5-Cl-DMT, and 4-OH-MiPT. Swiss Webster mice were tested for locomotor activity. Discriminative stimulus effects were tested in male Sprague-Dawley rats...
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
February 17, 2025
Rajiv S. Rangan, R Max Petty, Suchismita Acharya et al.
preprint
Psychedelics are well known for their ability to produce profoundly altered states of consciousness. But, more importantly, the effects of psychedelics can influence neurobehavioral changes that last well after these acute subjective effects end. This phenomenon is currently being leveraged in the development of psychedelic-assisted psychotherapies for the treatment of multiple neuropsychiatric...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
July 1, 2020
Michael B. Gatch, Michael J Forster
Background: Synthetic cathinone derivatives are used as alternatives both for stimulant drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine and for club drugs such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), but little is known about their MDMA-like subjective effects. Methods In order to determine their similarity to MDMA, the discriminative stimulus effects of 10 pyrrolidinyl cathinones...
Psychopharmacology
March 2018
Michael B. Gatch, Michael J Forster
Novel synthetic cannabinoid compounds continue to appear in the market advertised as legal alternatives to marijuana and the older synthetic cannabinoid compounds which are now controlled substances. Most of these newer compounds have been found to act at CB1 receptors, so the purpose of this study was to study the abuse liability of these compounds. Five of these compounds (BB-22, FUB-PB-22,...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
November 1, 2017
Sean B. Dolan, Michael J Forster, Michael B. Gatch
Novel psychoactive substances have maintained a prominent role in the global drug culture, despite increased regulation by governing bodies. Novel compounds continue to become available on the market, often in "Ecstasy" or "Molly" formulations in lieu of MDMA, at a much faster rate than they can be properly characterized. The current study aimed to investigate the discriminative stimulus and...
Behavioural Pharmacology
September 2016
Michael B. Gatch, Sean B. Dolan, Michael J Forster
5,6-Methylenedioxy-2-aminoindane (MDAI) has become a common substitute for (±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in Ecstasy. MDAI is known to produce MDMA-like discriminative stimulus effects, but it is not known whether MDAI has psychostimulant or hallucinogen-like effects. MDAI was tested for locomotor stimulant effects in mice and subsequently for discriminative stimulus effects in...
Psychopharmacology
May 2016
Michael B. Gatch, Michael J Forster
Novel cannabinoid compounds continue to be marketed as "legal" marijuana substitutes, even though little is known about their molecular and behavioral effects. Six of these compounds (ADBICA, ADB-PINACA, THJ-2201, RCS-4, JWH-122, JWH-210) were tested for in vitro and in vivo cannabinoid-like effects to determine their abuse liability. Binding to and functional activity at CB1 cannabinoid...
Behavioural Pharmacology
August 2015
Michael B. Gatch, Michael J Forster
When synthetic cannabinoid compounds became controlled by state and federal governments, different, noncontrolled compounds began to appear as marijuana substitutes. Unlike the scheduled cannabinoids, the newer compounds have not been characterized for potency and efficacy in preclinical studies. The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether some of the more recent synthetic...
Behavioural Pharmacology
December 2014
Michael B. Gatch, Michael J Forster
A number of cannabinoid compounds are being sold in the form of incense as 'legal' alternatives to marijuana. The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether the most common of these compounds have discriminative stimulus effects similar to Δ-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ-THC), the main active component in marijuana. Locomotor depressant effects of JWH-018, JWH-073, JWH-200, JWH-203,...
Psychopharmacology
March 1, 2014
Amy J. Eshleman, Michael J Forster, Katherine M. Wolfrum et al.
72 citations
Psychoactive-substituted phenethylamines 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chlorophenethylamine (2C-C); 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylphenethylamine (2C-D); 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine (2C-E); 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine (2C-I); 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine (2C-T-2); and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chloroamphetamine (DOC) are used recreationally and may have deleterious side effects. This study compares...
Neuropsychopharmacology
May 24, 2013
Michael B. Gatch, Alexey Kozlenkov, Ren-Qi Huang et al.
Anecdotal reports have surfaced concerning misuse of the HIV antiretroviral medication efavirenz ((4S)-6-chloro-4-(2-cyclopropylethynyl)-4-(trifluoromethyl)-2,4-dihydro-1H-3,1-benzoxazin-2-one) by HIV patients and non-infected teens who crush the pills and smoke the powder for its psychoactive effects. Molecular profiling of the receptor pharmacology of efavirenz pinpointed interactions with...
Psychopharmacology
March 1, 2013
Theresa M. Carbonaro, Michael J Forster, Michael B. Gatch
Serotonergic hallucinogens such as (+)-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and dimethyltryptamine (DMT) produce distinctive visual effects, whereas the synthetic hallucinogen N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (DiPT) is known for its production of auditory distortions. This study compares the discriminative stimulus effects of DiPT to those of visual hallucinogens. Adult male rats were trained to...