1. Inhibitors of nitric oxide (NO) formation or ADP-ribosylation attenuate methamphetamine (METH)- and methylenedioxymetamphetamine (MDMA)-induced neurotoxicity on dopaminergic and serotonergic cells in primary cultures. 2. They also prevent METH-induced reactive gliosis in dopaminergic cultures. 3. Overexpression of superoxide dismutase (SOD) in cells obtained from SOD-transgenic mice also...
While many previous studies have shown that a variety of cannabinoids substitute and cross-substitute for delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in drug discrimination procedures, few have systematically examined potential THC-like effects of non-cannabinoid compounds. The purpose of the present study was to delineate further the pharmacological specificity of THC discrimination. Rats were trained...
PsychopharmacologyApril 1995K M Hegadoren, M T Martin-Iverson, G B Baker
Spontaneous behaviours were assessed in freely moving rats after treatment with equimolar doses of drugs that share a basic amphetamine structure. The drugs used included a psychomotor stimulant [(+)-amphetamine (AMPH)], an hallucinogen [para-methoxyamphetamine (PMA)] and the entactogens 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and...
The behavioral effects of 5-methoxy-6-methyl-2-aminoindan (MMAI) were examined using the drug discrimination procedure and direct observation for classification of the characteristic syndrome induced by MMAI. The stimulus effects of MMAI were studied in 5 different groups of rats trained to discriminate MMAI (1.71 mg/kg; 8 microM/kg), MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine; 1.75 mg/kg; 7.6...
Ecstatic religious trance and spirit possession occur across a broad cultural and socioeconomic range, from Pentecostal possession by the Holy Ghost to Ethiopian zar possession cults. Interestingly, this phenomenon is most frequently experienced by young women in their early teens. Folklorists such as Felicitas Goodman postulate that this generational and gendered proclivity for trance...
Cortical synaptosomes were prepared from pregnant dams (GD-17) and rat fetuses (ED-17), loaded with [3H]5-HT and assayed to evaluate release mediated by cocaine (COC), fenfluramine (FEN) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). COC and FEN elicited a high-affinity (10(-9) M) release response in fetal tissue which was not apparent in the dam. MDMA-induced release was similar in magnitude in...
Background: To begin applying basic neuropharmacological hypotheses of hallucinogenic drug actions to humans, we generated dose-response data for intravenously administered dimethyltryptamine fumarate's (DMT) neuroendocrine, cardiovascular, autonomic, and subjective effects in a group of experienced hallucinogen users. Methods: Dimethyltryptamine, an endogenous mammalian hallucinogen and drug...
Nabokov Studies, 1 (1994), 155-77. J. B. SISSON (Edina, MN, U.S.A.; NABOKOV'S COSMIC SYNCHRONIZATION AND "SOMETHING ELSE" Central to his aesthetic and to an understanding of his work is the concept that Nabokov labels "cosmic synchronization."1 This concept is a formulation of the posited desire of the artist to apprehend the entire universe by an awareness expanding rapidly outward from the...
Ibogaine is an alkaloid employed for its hallucinatory properties in West Central Africa which has been the subject of alleged efficacy as an aid in the interruption and treatment of chemical dependency. The major sources of the Schedule I agent are: Sigma Chemical Co., the National Institute on Drug Abuse and as NDA International Inc.'s Endabuse. The intent of the present study was to, for the...
While positivist science dominates the drug and alcohol research sector, alternative constructivist paradigms of inquiry into drug and alcohol use are also present. The passage of individual researchers through paradigm shifts is often difficult, and rarely documented. Different paradigms of inquiry produce different types of information. The use of the psychoactive drug...