Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland)
February 25, 2021
Carolina Lobato-Freitas, Andreia Machado Brito-Da-Costa, Ricardo Jorge Dinis-Oliveira et al.
ADB-FUBINACA and AMB-FUBINACA are two synthetic indazole-derived cannabinoid receptor agonists, up to 140- and 85-fold more potent, respectively, than trans-∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (∆9-THC), the main psychoactive compound of cannabis. Synthesised in 2009 as a pharmaceutical drug candidate, the recreational use of ADB-FUBINACA was first reported in 2013 in Japan, with fatal cases being described...
PLoS One
June 14, 2016
João Martins, Miguel Castelo-Branco, Ana Batista et al.
10 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) is known to produce euphoric states, but may also cause adverse consequences in humans, such as hyperthermia and neurocognitive deficits. Although MDMA consumption has been associated with visual problems, the effects of this recreational drug in retinal physiology have not been addressed hitherto. In this work, we evaluated the effect of a...
Archives of Toxicology
August 1, 2015
Ana Margarida Araújo, Félix Carvalho, Maria de Lourdes Bastos et al.
290 citations
In the area of psychotropic drugs, tryptamines are known to be a broad class of classical or serotonergic hallucinogens. These drugs are capable of producing profound changes in sensory perception, mood and thought in humans and act primarily as agonists of the 5-HT2A receptor. Well-known tryptamines such as psilocybin contained in Aztec sacred mushrooms and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT),...
Forensic Science International
September 1, 2014
Fernando Xavier Moreira, Félix Carvalho, Maria de Lourdes Bastos et al.
13 citations
Lately, the hallucinogenic plant Salvia divinorum has been considered a popular recreational product among adolescents, being legally sold in several countries in "smartshops" and in internet websites. Sellers frequently omit the safety information about the plant, encouraging its use for recreational purposes, without providing adequate qualitative and quantitative details. The principal...
British Journal of Pharmacology
April 21, 2011
Daniel José Barbosa, João Paulo Capela, Jorge M.A. Oliveira et al.
60 citations
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or 'Ecstasy') is a worldwide major drug of abuse known to elicit neurotoxic effects. The mechanisms underlying the neurotoxic effects of MDMA are not clear at present, but the metabolism of dopamine and 5-HT by monoamine oxidase (MAO), as well as the hepatic biotransformation of MDMA into pro-oxidant reactive metabolites is thought...
Toxicology
April 11, 2010
Helena Pontes, Paula Guedes De Pinho, Eduarda Fernandes et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy), a drug of abuse commonly consumed at rave parties, is often taken in a polydrug abuse scenario, ethanol being one of the most associated drugs. Both MDMA and ethanol are mainly metabolized in the liver with formation of toxic metabolites. Our working hypothesis is that ethanol can modify the metabolism of MDMA through the cytochrome P450...
Molecular Neurobiology
June 1, 2009
João Paulo Capela, Helena Carmo, Fernando Remião et al.
“Ecstasy” [(±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, XTC, X, E] is a psychoactive recreational hallucinogenic substance and a major worldwide drug of abuse. Several reports raised the concern that MDMA has the ability to induce neurotoxic effects both in laboratory animals and humans. Despite more than two decades of research, the mechanisms by which MDMA is neurotoxic are still to be fully...
Neurotoxicology
July 2007
João Paulo Capela, Eduarda Fernandes, Fernando Remião et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy") is a psychoactive and hallucinogenic drug of abuse. MDMA has been shown to produce neurotoxicity both in animals and humans. MDMA and other amphetamines induce serotonergic and dopaminergic terminal neurotoxicity and also neurodegeneration in areas including the cortex, hippocampus, striatum and thalamus. Herein, we investigated the...
JOURNAL OF HEALTH SCIENCE
2007
Carla Macedo, Paula S. Branco, Luı́sa M. Ferreira et al.
36 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy") is a widely abused, psychoactive recreational drug. There are growing evidences that the MDMA neurotoxic profile may be highly dependent on its hepatic metabolism. MDMA metabolism leads to the production of highly reactive derivates, namely catechols, catechol thioethers, and quinones. In this study the electrochemical oxidation-reduction...
The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics
January 2006
João Paulo Capela, Andreas Meisel, Artur Reis Abreu et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy") is a widely abused, psychoactive recreational drug. There is growing evidence that the MDMA neurotoxic profile may be highly dependent on both its hepatic metabolism and body temperature. Metabolism of MDMA involves N-demethylation to 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), which is also a drug of abuse. MDMA and MDA are O-demethylenated to...
Toxicology
January 5, 2005
Helena Carmo, Jan G Hengstler, Douwe De Boer et al.
85 citations
4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) is a psychoactive designer drug of abuse that is sold under the street names "Venus", "Bromo", "Erox", "XTC" or "Nexus". Concern has been raised because only little is known about its toxicity and metabolism in humans. In the present study we incubated 2C-B with human, monkey, dog, rabbit, rat and mouse hepatocytes to identify the metabolites formed...
Journal of chromatography. B, Analytical technologies in the biomedical and life sciences
November 25, 2004
Helena Carmo, Douwe De Boer, Fernando Remião et al.
32 citations
4-Bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) is a psychoactive drug of abuse often sold under the general street name "Ecstasy". Recent reports on the abuse of 2C-B and analogues denote the lack of knowledge on this drug metabolism. In the present study, we investigated the metabolic profile of 2C-B in the mouse and found unchanged 2C-B and several metabolites, which could be identified by GC/MS...
Chemical Research in Toxicology
April 27, 2004
Márcia Carvalho, Fernando Remião, Nuno Milhazes et al.
77 citations
Cardiovascular complications associated with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) abuse have increasingly been reported. The indirect effect of MDMA mediated by a sustained high level of circulating biogenic amines may contribute to the cardiotoxic effects, but other factors, like the direct toxic effects of MDMA and its metabolites in cardiac cells, remain to be investigated....