Psychopharmacology
December 9, 2010
Adam L. Halberstadt, Virginia Lehmann-Masten, Mark A. Geyer et al.
35 citations
RATIONALE: Metabotropic glutamate (mGlu) receptors have been suggested to play a role in neuropsychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, drug abuse, and depression. Because serotonergic hallucinogens increase glutamate release and mGlu receptors modulate the response to serotonin (5-HT)(2A) activation, the interactions between serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptors and mGlu receptors may prove to be...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
December 8, 2010
Liselore Koedood, Adam L. Halberstadt, Susan B Powell et al.
212 citations
Psilocin (4-hydroxy- N, N-dimethyltryptamine) is a hallucinogen that acts as an agonist at 5-HT 1A , 5-HT 2A , and 5-HT 2C receptors. Psilocin is the active metabolite of psilocybin, a hallucinogen that is currently being investigated clinically as a potential therapeutic agent. In the present investigation, we used a combination of genetic and pharmacological approaches to identify the...
Biological Psychiatry
December 4, 2010
Michael Kometer, B. Rael Cahn, David Andel et al.
101 citations
BackgroundRecent findings suggest that the serotonergic system and particularly the 5-HT2A/1A receptors are implicated in visual processing and possibly the pathophysiology of visual disturbances including hallucinations in schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.MethodsTo investigate the role of 5-HT2A/1A receptors in visual processing the effect of the hallucinogenic 5-HT2A/1A agonist...
PLoS One
December 2, 2010
Gantt P. Galloway, Jennifer D. Siegrist, Lynn C. Robertson et al.
22 citations
BACKGROUND: The mechanisms of drug-induced visions are poorly understood. Very few serotonergic hallucinogens have been studied in humans in decades, despite widespread use of these drugs and potential relevance of their mechanisms to hallucinations occurring in psychiatric and neurological disorders. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We investigated the mechanisms of hallucinogen-induced visions...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
December 2010
Allison A. Feduccia, Nundhun Kongovi, Christine L. Duvauchelle
There is a concern that hot environments enhance adverse effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy"). In this study, long-term (4-weeks) daily MDMA self-administration sessions and an MDMA Challenge test were conducted with rats under normal and high thermal conditions (23° or 32°C). During MDMA self-administration sessions, activity and body temperature were increased by...
Neuroscience
November 24, 2010
K H S Yang, D Isaev, M Morales et al.
The effects of Δ(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive component of cannabis, on the function of 5-HT type 3 (5-HT(3)) receptors were investigated using a two-electrode voltage clamp technique in Xenopus oocytes, and a whole-cell patch clamp technique in rat nodose ganglion neurons. In oocytes injected with 3 ng cRNA of 5-HT(3A) receptor, THC reversibly inhibited currents evoked with...
Addiction Biology
November 11, 2010
Jillian H. Broadbear, Brendan J. Tunstall, Katherine Beringer
38 citations
ABSTRACT 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ‘ecstasy’) use results in distinctive mood changes of a prosocial nature, most likely through its enhancement of serotonin (5HT) neurotransmission. Activation of 5HT‐1A postsynaptic receptors has been shown to stimulate the release of oxytocin in the central nervous system where it regulates aspects of mood and behavior. Using a drug...
Journal of Nuclear Medicine
October 18, 2010
Anders Ettrup, Mikael Palner, Nic Gillings et al.
50 citations
UNLABELLED: PET brain imaging of the serotonin 2A (5-hydroxytryptamine 2A, or 5-HT(2A)) receptor has been widely used in clinical studies, and currently, several well-validated radiolabeled antagonist tracers are used for in vivo imaging of the cerebral 5-HT(2A) receptor. Access to 5-HT(2A) receptor agonist PET tracers would, however, enable imaging of the active, high-affinity state of...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
October 14, 2010
María Juliana Orejarena, Laurence Lanfumey, Rafaël Maldonado et al.
38 citations
The serotonergic system appears crucial for (±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) reinforcing properties. Current evidence indicates that serotonin 5-HT2A receptors (5-HT2ARs) modulate mesolimbic dopamine (DA) activity and several behavioural responses related to the addictive properties of psychostimulants. This study evaluated the role of 5-HT2ARs in MDMA-induced reinforcement and...
Journal of Neuroscience
October 6, 2010
Cullen L. Schmid, Laura M Bohn
172 citations
Hallucinogens mediate many of their psychoactive effects by activating serotonin 2A receptors (5-HT 2A R). Although serotonin is the cognate endogenous neurotransmitter and is not considered hallucinogenic, metabolites of serotonin also have high affinity at 5-HT 2A R and can induce hallucinations in humans. Here we report that serotonin differs from the psychoactive N -methyltryptamines by its...
Psychopharmacology
October 1, 2010
Anthony G Romano, Jennifer L Quinn, Luchuan Li et al.
42 citations
Parenteral injections of d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a serotonin 5-HT(2A) receptor agonist, enhance eyeblink conditioning. Another hallucinogen, (±)-1(2, 5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane hydrochloride (DOI), was shown to elicit a 5-HT(2A)-mediated behavior (head bobs) after injection into the hippocampus, a structure known to mediate trace eyeblink conditioning. This study aims...
Neuroscience
September 1, 2010
A B Klein, Martin A. Santini, Susana Aznar et al.
Changes in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression have been implicated in the etiology of psychiatric disorders. To investigate pathological mechanisms elicited by perturbed BDNF signaling, we examined mutant mice with central depletion of BDNF (BDNF(2L/2LCk-cre)). A severe impairment specific for the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT(2A)R) in prefrontal cortex was described previously...
Neurotoxicology
August 26, 2010
MDMA administration decreases serotonin but not N-acetylaspartate in the rat brain.
Neurotoxicity Research
August 2010
Laura Orío, Noemi Llopis, Elisa Torres et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') is a selective 5-HT neurotoxin in rat brain which has been shown to produce acute neuroinflammation characterized by activation of microglia and release of interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta). We aimed to determine whether or not minocycline, a semi-synthetic tetracycline antibiotic capable of inhibiting microglial activation, could prevent the...
Psychopharmacology
July 20, 2010
Acute concomitant effects of MDMA binge dosing on extracellular 5-HT, locomotion and body temperature and the long-term effect on novel object discrimination in rats.
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
July 16, 2010
Bethann N. Johnson, Bryan K. Yamamoto
22 citations
Stress facilitates drug abuse by humans. In rodents, stress enhances the neurochemical, neuroendocrine, and behavioral responses to psychostimulants. Although chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) enhances the acute hyperthermic and long-term monoamine-depleting effects of the psychostimulant +3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), the roles of hyperthermia and corticosterone (CORT) in...
European Journal of Pharmacology
July 13, 2010
Role of serotonin and/or norepinephrine in the MDMA-induced increase in extracellular glucose and glycogenolysis in the rat brain.
Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia
July 1, 2010
Thiago Berti Kirsten, Maria Martha Bernardi
7 citations
Psilocybe cubensis (Ear.) Sing., Strophariaceae, is a hallucinogen mushroom that has been used since the old times by humans, causing several psychotic effects. P. cubensis contains two tryptamine derivates: psilocybin and psilocin, agonists of the 5-HT2 receptor (serotonin). The main objective of this study was to investigate the acute toxicity effects of P. cubensis aqueous extract (PCAE)...
Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
June 27, 2010
Emanuela Turillazzi, Irene Riezzo, Margherita Neri et al.
43 citations
Studies conducted in humans or in animals explored the presence, nature and potential causes of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) toxicity. According to literature, there are four principal types of such serious toxicity: hepatic, cardiovascular, cerebral and hyperpyrexic. The molecular mechanisms involved in the genesis of these toxic effects are not yet fully clarified, but the...
Current Pharmaceutical Biotechnology
June 27, 2010
Sumit Sarkar, Larry Schmued
63 citations
"Ecstasy" (MDMA) is a powerful hallucinogenic drug which has raised concern worldwide because of its high abuse liability. A plethora of studies have demonstrated that MDMA has the potential to induce neurotoxicity both in human and laboratory animals. Although research on MDMA has been carried out by many different laboratories, the mechanism underlying MDMA induced toxicity has not been fully...