Molecular Psychiatry
November 14, 2025
Núria Nadal‐gratacós, Pol Puigseslloses, Laura Hernández‐guzmán et al.
Psychedelics have garnered significant interest for their therapeutic potential in mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder. While research has primarily focused on well-studied psychedelics, phenethylamine derivatives have also gathered interest for their potential therapeutic applications. Thus, this study aims to investigate the pharmacological...
Molecular Psychiatry
October 21, 2025
Pol Puigseslloses, Núria Nadal‐gratacós, Berta Fumàs et al.
1 citation
Current first-line antidepressants, such as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRI), often present a delayed onset of action and fail to effectively treat a large proportion of patients, leaving a gap in the treatment of mood disorders. Psychedelics have recently emerged as promising alternatives due to their ability to produce fast-acting antidepressant effects through neuroplastic...
Pharmaceutical Science
October 13, 2025
Berta Fumàs, David Pubill, Raúl López‐arnau et al.
Substance Use Disorder (SUD) is a chronic, relapsing mental health condition characterized by compulsive substance use despite harmful consequences. According to the World Health Organization, in 2021, approximately 39.5 million individuals worldwide suffered from drug use disorders, contributing to an estimated 600,000 deaths annually. Moreover, current pharmacological treatment, such as...
Molecular Psychiatry
March 14, 2024
Pol Puigseslloses, Gabriel Ketsela, Nicola Weiss et al.
23 citations
Abstract Recent studies have sparked renewed interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for treating depression and other mental health conditions. Simultaneously, the novel psychoactive substances (NPS) phenomenon, with a huge number of NPS emerging constantly, has changed remarkably the illicit drug market, being their scientific evaluation an urgent need. Thus, this study aims to...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
October 3, 2022
Jordi Camarasa, Pol Puigseslloses, Edurne Urquizu et al.
5 citations
The utility of classical drugs used to treat psychiatric disorders (e.g., antidepressants, anxiolytics) is often limited by issues of lack of efficacy, delayed onset of action or side effects. Psychoactive substances have a long history of being used as tools to alter consciousness and as a gateway to approach the unknown and the divinities. These substances were initially obtained from plants...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 2019
Sonia Abad, Carla Ramon-Duaso, Raúl López‐arnau et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is still one of the most consumed drugs by adolescents. Its abuse is related with cognitive impairment, which seems due to maladaptive plasticity and neural stress. In turn, new hypotheses suggest that Alzheimer's disease (AD) may be promoted by neural stressors. To test if there is an increase in vulnerability to AD after chronic MDMA consumption, we...
Molecular Neurobiology
December 2016
Sonia Abad, J Camarasa, David Pubill et al.
(±)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a relatively selective dopaminergic neurotoxin in mice. This study was designed to evaluate whether MDMA exposure affects their recognition memory and hippocampal expression of plasticity markers. Mice were administered with increasing doses of MDMA once per week for 8 weeks (three times in 1 day, every 3 h) and killed 2 weeks (2w) or 3 months (3m)...
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
October 3, 2014
Sonia Abad, Fèlix Junyent, Carme Auladell et al.
Kainic acid (KA) causes seizures and neuronal loss in the hippocampus. The present study investigated whether a recreational schedule of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) favours the development of a seizure state in a model of KA-induced epilepsy and potentiates the toxicity profile of KA (20 or 30mg/kg). Adolescent male C57BL/6 mice received saline or MDMA t.i.d. (s.c. every 3h), on...
European journal of medicinal chemistry
June 23, 2014
Salomé Llabrés, Sara Garcia-Ratés, Edgar Cristóbal-Lecina et al.
The α4β2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) is a molecular target of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a synthetic drug also known as ecstasy, and it modulates the MDMA-mediated reinforcing properties. However, the enantioselective preference of the α4β2 nAChR subtype still remains unknown. Since the two enantiomers exhibit different pharmacological profiles and stereoselective...
Pharmaceuticals
June 15, 2011
Elena Escubedo, Sara Garcia-Ratés, Jordi Camarasa et al.
4 citations
Amphetamine derivatives such as methamphetamine (METH) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”) are widely abused drugs in a recreational context. This has led to concern because of the evidence that they are neurotoxic in animal models and cognitive impairments have been described in heavy abusers. The main targets of these drugs are plasmalemmal and vesicular monoamine...
European Journal of Pharmacology
July 28, 2008
Jorge Camarasa, José M Marimón, Teresa Rodrigo et al.
Amphetamine abuse is an important risk factor for the development of cognitive impairment involving learning and memory. Since in previous studies we have demonstrated the effectiveness of alpha-7 nicotinic receptor antagonists in preventing the neurotoxicity induced by amphetamine derivatives, the present paper seeks to determine whether pre-treatment with memantine (MEM) (an antagonist of...
Neuropharmacology
June 2008
C Chipana, I Torres, J Camarasa et al.
We hypothesize that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and methamphetamine (METH) interact with alpha-7 nicotinic receptors (nAChR). Here we examine whether memantine (MEM), an antagonist of NMDAR and alpha-7 nAChR, prevents MDMA and METH neurotoxicity. MEM prevented both serotonergic injury induced by MDMA in rat and dopaminergic lesion by METH in mice. MEM has a better protective effect...
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
September 15, 2007
Sara Garcia-Ratés, Jordi Camarasa, Elena Escubedo et al.
Previous work from our group indicated that alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (alpha7 nAChR) potentially play a role in methamphetamine (METH) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) neurotoxicity. The aims of the present study were two-fold: (1) to demonstrate the interaction of METH and MDMA with homomeric alpha7 nAChR ([(3)H]methyllycaconitine binding) and other heteromeric...
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
April 15, 2004
Andrés Jiménez, Elvira G Jordà, Ester Verdaguer et al.
The neurotoxic action of the abuse drugs methamphetamine (METH) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on cerebellar granule neurones (CGNs) culture was examined. Treatment for 48 h with METH or MDMA (1-5 mM) induced a higher decrease in viability than 24 h treatment. z.VAD.fmk (100 microM) but not MK-801 nor NBQX recovered control viability values. In both cases, cell death was...