Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
September 1, 2011
Jerrold C Winter, D J Amorosi, Kenner C Rice et al.
10 citations
In previous studies we have observed that, in comparison with wild type mice, Tg-CYP2D6 mice have increased serum levels of bufotenine [5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine] following the administration of 5-MeO-DMT. Furthermore, following the injection of 5-MeO-DMT, harmaline was observed to increase serum levels of bufotenine and 5-MeO-DMT in both wild-type and Tg-CYP2D6 mice. In the present...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
September 2011
N W Gilpin, M J Wright, G Dickinson et al.
Recreational ingestion of the drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") can result in pathologically elevated body temperature and even death in humans. Such incidents are relatively rare which makes it difficult to identify the relative contributions of specific environmental and situational factors. Although animal models have been used to explore several aspects of...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
June 2011
Ming Li, Erik He, Nick Volf
Antagonism of prepulse inhibition (PPI) deficits produced by psychotomimetic drugs has been widely used as an effective tool for the study of the mechanisms of antipsychotic action and identifying potential antipsychotic drugs. Many studies have relied on the acute effect of a single administration of antipsychotics, whereas patients with schizophrenia are treated chronically with antipsychotic...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
June 2011
Alexandre Seillier, Andrea Giuffrida
Sub-chronic administration of PCP produces a social interaction deficit that is reversed by URB597, an inhibitor of the catabolic enzyme of the endocannabinoid anandamide. Since increased anxiety may contribute to social withdrawal and URB597 has been shown to have an anxiolytic action, we studied whether this drug affected saline- and PCP-treated rats' performance in the Elevated-Plus-Maze...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 2011
Dawn E Sugarman, James Poling, Mehmet Sofuoglu
Marijuana (cannabis) is the most widely used illicit substance globally, and cannabis use is associated with a range of adverse consequences. Currently, no medications have been proven to be effective for the treatment of cannabis addiction. The goals of this study were to examine the safety and efficacy of a potential treatment medication, modafinil, in combination with oral...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 2011
Tomáš Páleníček, Marie Balíková, Miroslava Rohanová et al.
Despite poisoning with the ecstasy substitute para-methoxymethamphetamine (PMMA) being typically associated with severe hyperthermia and death, behavioral and toxicological data on this drug are missing. Herein we present the behavioral profile of PMMA, its hyperthermic potency and pharmacokinetic profile in rats. The effects of PMMA 5 and 20 mg/kg on locomotion, on prepulse inhibition (PPI) of...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 2011
Steven G Kinsey, Scott T O'Neal, Jonathan Z Long et al.
Cannabinoids have long been shown to have a range of potential therapeutic effects, including antiemetic actions, analgesia, and anxiolysis. However, psychomimetic and memory disruptive side effects, as well as the potential for abuse and dependence, have restricted their clinical development. Endogenous cannabinoids (i.e., endocannabinoids; eCBs), such as anandamide (AEA) and...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
November 24, 2010
Michael E. Ballard, Harriet de Wit
Rationale: Previous studies examining the combined effects of ethanol and cannabis, or its primary psychoactive ingredient, ∆⁹-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), have provided mixed results. Data from an in vitro study suggests that combined, sub-threshold doses of these drugs may interact to produce synergistic effects. Very low doses of the two drugs in combination have not been tested in humans....
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
September 1, 2010
Bryan A Killinger, Mary M Peet, Lisa E Baker
41 citations
Salvia divinorum is a small perennial shrub that has gained recent popularity among the drug-using subculture as a legal alternative to hallucinogens. Salvinorin A, the main active compound found in the S.divinorum plant, is an atypical hallucinogen with pharmacological selectivity at kappa opioid (KOP) receptor sites and is a unique non-nitrogenous neoclerodane diterpene which is structurally...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
September 2010
Carl L. Hart, Aaron B Ilan, Alan Gevins et al.
Previously, we reported that acute marijuana intoxication minimally affected complex cognitive performance of daily marijuana smokers. It is possible that the cognitive tests used were insensitive to marijuana-related cognitive effects. In the current study, electroencephalographic (EEG) signals were recorded as daily marijuana users performed additional tests of immediate working memory and...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
July 2010
Koen B E Böcker, J Gerritsen, Claudine C Hunault et al.
Cannabis intake has been reported to affect cognitive functions such as selective attention. This study addressed the effects of exposure to cannabis with up to 69.4mg Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) recorded during a visual selective attention task. Twenty-four participants smoked cannabis cigarettes with four doses of THC on four test days in a...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
June 2010
Abir T. El-Alfy, Kelly Ivey, Keisha Robinson et al.
The antidepressant action of cannabis as well as the interaction between antidepressants and the endocannabinoid system has been reported. This study was conducted to assess the antidepressant-like activity of Delta(9)-THC and other cannabinoids. Cannabinoids were initially evaluated in the mouse tetrad assay to determine doses that do not induce hypothermia or catalepsy. The automated mouse...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
April 2010
Sarah M Turgeon, Nicole D. Anderson, Kerry O'Loughlin
Previous research in our laboratory indicates that the psychotomimetic drug phencyclidine (PCP) reduces voluntary sucrose consumption in male rats, potentially modeling the schizophrenic symptom of anhedonia. Given reports from the clinical literature that schizophrenia has a later age of onset and more favorable outcome in females, PCP might be expected to have sexually dimorphic effects in...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
January 2010
Mark A Simmons, Jennifer L Werkheiser, Thomas J Hudzik
Behavioral assays of the responses to psychomotor stimulants can be used to model certain aspects of CNS pathologies such as psychosis and addiction. However, species-dependent differences in the effects of neuromodulators in these assays can confound the interpretation of the results. The goal of this study was to determine the utility of the guinea pig as a model for assessing the behavioral...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
December 1, 2009
Aashish S Morani, Bronwyn M Kivell, Thomas E Prisinzano et al.
91 citations
Our previous work indicated that pretreatment with the selective kappa-opioid receptor (KOPr) agonist, U69593, attenuated the ability of priming injections of cocaine to reinstate extinguished cocaine-seeking behavior. The present study expanded these initial tests to include other traditional KOPr agonists, U50488H, spiradoline (SPR), and salvinorin A (Sal A), an active constituent of the...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
September 1, 2009
Vikas Duvvuri, Victoria B Risbrough, Walter H. Kaye et al.
7 citations
We propose a translational approach to the study of anorexia nervosa (AN) based on our human subject studies where there are characteristic elevations in 5-HT(1A) receptor binding, associated harm avoidance behaviors, reduced impulsivity, and comorbid anxiety disorders. Towards this goal, the hyponeophagia assay was implemented whereby food-deprived mice show increased latency to begin feeding...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
August 2009
Daniel Thomas Malone, Dennis Jongejan, David Alan Taylor
While Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is the main psychoactive constituent of the cannabis plant, a non-psychoactive constituent is cannabidiol (CBD). CBD has been implicated as a potential treatment of a number of disorders including schizophrenia and epilepsy and has been included with THC in a 1:1 combination for the treatment of conditions such as neuropathic pain. This study...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 2009
Ronald L Cowan, James M. Joers, Mary S Dietrich
Impaired verbal memory is common in MDMA (Ecstasy) polydrug users. The contributions of Ecstasy or polydrug exposure to reduced verbal memory are unclear, as is the neural basis for this cognitive deficit. Ecstasy users have reduced gray matter in brain regions mediating verbal memory (BA 18, 21 and 45). N-acetylaspartate (NAA) as a neuronal marker and myoinositol (mI) as a glial marker are...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
August 17, 2008
Effect of 8-hydroxy-2-(N,N-di-n-propylamino)tetralin and MDMA on the discriminative stimulus effects of the classical hallucinogen DOM in rats.
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
July 30, 2008
Jesse A May, Najam A Sharif, Hwang-Hsing Chen et al.
AL-38022A is a novel synthetic serotonergic (5-HT) ligand that exhibited high affinity for each of the 5-HT2 receptor subtypes (Ki100-fold less) affinity for other 5-HT receptors. In addition, AL-38022A displayed a very low affinity for a broad array of other receptors, neurotransmitter transport sites, ion channels, and second messenger elements, making it a relatively selective agent....
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
January 2008
William E Fantegrossi, Chad J Reissig, Elyse B Katz et al.
N,N-dipropyltryptamine (DPT) is a synthetic tryptamine hallucinogen which has been used psychotherapeutically in humans, but has been studied preclinically only rarely. In the present studies, DPT was tested in a drug-elicited head-twitch assay in mice, and in rats trained to discriminate lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N,N-dimethyl-4-phosphoryloxytryptamine (psilocybin), or...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
January 2008
Jerrold C Winter
It has been observed that agents with agonist activity at 5-HT2A receptors prevent neurotoxicity induced by the non-competitive NMDA antagonist, dizocilpine (MK-801). Subsequent behavioral studies reported complete antagonism by LSD and DOM of the stimulus effects of the related NMDA antagonist, phencyclidine [PCP]. The present study sought to extend those observations to include other...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
January 2008
C M Krall, J B Richards, R A Rabin et al.
Based upon extensive studies in the rat, it has been suggested that stimulus control by LSD is mediated by 5-HT2A receptors, with serotonergic receptors of the 5-HT1A and 5-HT2C subtypes playing modulatory roles. In genetically modified mice lacking the serotonin transporter (SERT), 5-HT2A receptor density is decreased and, at a functional level, the head-twitch response following the...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
October 1, 2007
Jerrold C Winter, K C Rice, D J Amorosi et al.
73 citations
Although psilocybin has been trained in the rat as a discriminative stimulus, little is known of the pharmacological receptors essential for stimulus control. In the present investigation rats were trained with psilocybin and tests were then conducted employing a series of other hallucinogens and presumed antagonists. An intermediate degree of antagonism of psilocybin was observed following...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
October 2007
Kevin T. Ball, Kelly M Walsh, George V. Rebec
The widely used recreational drug MDMA (ecstasy) supports self-administration in animals, but it is not known whether MDMA-associated cues are able to reinstate drug seeking in a relapse model of drug addiction. To assess this possibility, drug-naïve rats were trained to press a lever for MDMA infusions (0.30 mg/kg/infusion, i.v.) paired with a compound cue (light and tone) in daily 2 h...