Benzodiazepines and electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) are mainstay treatments for catatonia, a potentially life-threatening psychomotor syndrome characterized by a range of symptoms, including immobility, mutism, stupor, posturing, and sometimes even agitation. It can be a manifestation of various underlying psychiatric or medical conditions, such as schizophrenia, mood disorders, or neurological...
Ketamine, an anesthetic available since 1970, and esketamine, its newer S-enantiomer, provide a novel approach for the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders. At subanesthetic doses, the two drugs, along with their older congener, phencyclidine (PCP), induce a transient, altered mental state by blocking the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor for glutamate, the primary...
Racemic (R,S)‐ketamine is a glutamatergic drug with potent and rapid acting antidepressant effects. An intranasal formulation of (S)‐ketamine was recently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to be used in individuals with treatment‐resistant depression (TRD). There are no data directly comparing outcomes on depression or other comorbidities between these two formulations of...
Synthetic, or "designer" drugs, are created by manipulating the chemical structures of other psychoactive drugs so that the resulting product is structurally similar but not identical to illegal psychoactive drugs. Originally developed in the 1960s as a way to evade existing drug laws, the use of designer drugs has increased dramatically over the past few years. These drugs are deceptively...
To determine the content of the hallucinogen salvinorin A in a variety of Salvia divinorum herbal products and to compare the content with the label claims of potency and purity. Laboratory analysis. University-affiliated laboratory. Five herbal products containing Salvia divinorum. The samples were purchased from the Internet and local drug paraphernalia shops ("head shops"). Highperformance...
To evaluate the DanceSafe Complete Adulterant Screening Kit for Ecstasy with regard to its accuracy in identifying 3,4-methylenedioxymeth-amphetamine (MDMA) and methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) derivatives and its ability to detect certain contaminants. In part 1, 39 street-grade tablets purported to be MDMA were tested with the Marquis, Mecke, and Simon's reagents provided by the DanceSafe...
“Club drugs” have become alarmingly popular. The use of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy) and γ‐hydroxybutyrate (GHB), in particular, has increased dramatically from 1997–1999. The pharmacokinetics of MDMA and GHB appear to be nonlinear, making it difficult to estimate a dose‐response relationship. The drug MDMA is an amphetamine analog with sympathomimetic properties, whereas...
Current models of drug‐induced psychosis insufficiently describe the symptoms of schizophrenia. Phencyclidine‐induced psychosis is a model that more completely reflects the pathophysiology of the disease. By decreasing glutamatergic neurotransmission, phencyclidine decreases 7‐aminobutyric acid release from the nucleus accumbens, striatum, and hippocampus (manifested by MK‐801); may inhibit...