Brain and Cognition
March 2017
William A Phillips
Evidence for the hypothesis that input to the apical tufts of neocortical pyramidal cells plays a central role in cognition by amplifying their responses to feedforward input is reviewed. Apical tufts are electrically remote from the soma, and their inputs come from diverse sources including direct feedback from higher cortical regions, indirect feedback via the thalamus, and long-range lateral...
Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry
March 2017
Amir Levine, Kelly Clemenza, Moira A Rynn et al.
This review of the scientific literature examines the potential adult sequelae of exposure to cannabis and related synthetic cannabinoids in adolescence. We examine the four neuropsychiatric outcomes that are likely most vulnerable to alteration by early cannabinoid use, as identified within both the clinical and preclinical research: cognition, emotional functioning, risk for psychosis, and...
March 1, 2017
Linda A. Parker
Cannabinoids and the Brain introduces an informed general audience to the scientific discovery of the endocannabinoid system and recent preclinical research that explains its importance in brain functioning. The endocannabinoids, anandamide and 2-AG, act on the same cannabinoid receptors, that are activated by the primary psychoactive compound found in marijuana, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)....
The British Journal of Psychiatry
March 1, 2017
Derek K. Tracy
Highlights of this issue (Not so) legal highs?There's been a zombie outbreak in Gotham City.Before you yell for Batman, the culprit is a novel psychoactive substance ('legal high' to use the incorrect but problematically enduring term) called 'AK-47' that is causing a bizarre intoxication profile in consumers: Kaleidoscope (pp.237-238) investigates the rise of the ultra-potent...
Cannabinoids and the Brain
March 1, 2017
Linda A. Parker
Global activation of CB1 receptors produces actions on hippocampal neurons, which results in interference with short tem memory and consolidation of memories that are currently being processed. However, such CB1 receptor activation does not impair recall of previously established memories. Evidence suggests that the acute effects of cannabis on memory depend in part on the type of cannabis that...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
February 27, 2017
Wei Jing, Daqing Guo, Yunxiang Zhang et al.
Functional MRI (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that the rodent brain shows a default mode network (DMN) activity similar to that in humans, offering a potential preclinical model both for physiological and pathophysiological studies. However, the neuronal mechanism underlying rodent DMN remains poorly understood. Here, we used electrophysiological data to analyze the power spectrum and...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
February 23, 2017
Rafael G. Dos Santos, José Carlos Bouso, Jaime E. C. Hallak
167 citations
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogen brew traditionally used for ritual and therapeutic purposes in Northwestern Amazon. It is rich in the tryptamine hallucinogens dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which acts as a serotonin 5-HT 2A agonist. This mechanism of action is similar to other compounds such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin. The controlled use of LSD and psilocybin in experimental...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
February 21, 2017
Patrick Vizeli, Matthias E. Liechti
142 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) is being investigated in MDMA-assisted psychotherapy. The present study characterized the safety pharmacology of single-dose administrations of MDMA (75 or 125 mg) using data from nine double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover studies performed in the same laboratory in a total of 166 healthy subjects. The duration of the subjective effects...
Neurotoxicology and Teratology
February 16, 2017
N. Miner, J. O'Callaghan, T. Phillips et al.
25 citations
The rise in popularity of substituted methcathinones (aka “bath salts”) has increased the focus on their neurotoxic effects. Two commonly abused methcathinones, 3,4-methylenedioxymethcathinone (methylone, MDMC) and 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV), are often concomitantly ingested with the illicit drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). To examine potential neurotoxic effects of...
Behavioural Brain Research
February 15, 2017
María P García-Pardo, Concepción Roger-Sánchez, Marta Rodríguez‐arias et al.
Adverse life experiences such as social stress may make an individual more vulnerable to drug addiction and mental disorders associated with drug consumption. The present work aimed to evaluate the effects of stress induced by acute social defeat combined with the administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on depression-like behaviour, memory function and motor response to drug...