Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
2017
Juan F López-Giménez, Javier González-Maeso
302 citations
The neuropsychological effects of naturally occurring psychoactive chemicals have been recognized for millennia. Hallucinogens, which include naturally occurring chemicals such as mescaline and psilocybin, as well as synthetic compounds, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), induce profound alterations of human consciousness, emotion, and cognition. The discovery of the hallucinogenic...
Scientific Reports
December 12, 2016
Kuo-Hsing Ma, Tsung-Ta Liu, Shao-Ju Weng et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a common recreational drug, is known to cause serotonergic neurotoxicity in the brain. Dextromethorphan (DM) is a widely used antitussive reported to exert anti-inflammatory effect in vivo. In this study, we examined the long-term effect of MDMA on the primate serotonergic system and the protective property of DM against MDMA-induced serotonergic...
Spiral (Imperial College London)
December 1, 2016
Caroline T. Golden
The prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a strong role in the execution of executive tasks such as working memory. It is thought to exert top-down control over sensory regions, and integrate information from both external stimuli, and internal computation, such as choice and expectation (1-3). The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) is a region of the PFC known to receive strong projections from...
PLoS One
November 18, 2016
Dina Popova, Andréas Forsblad, Sanaz Hashemian et al.
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) is a commonly abused recreational drug that causes neurotoxic effects in both humans and animals. The mechanism behind MDMA-induced neurotoxicity is suggested to be species-dependent and needs to be further investigated on the cellular level. In this study, the effects of MDMA in neuronally differentiated P19 mouse embryonal carcinoma cells have...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
November 15, 2016
Clinton E. Canal, Kevin S. Murnane
Classic hallucinogens share pharmacology as serotonin 5-HT 2A , 5-HT 2B , and 5-HT 2C receptor agonists. Unique among most other Schedule 1 drugs, they are generally non-addictive and can be effective tools in the treatment of addiction. Mechanisms underlying these attributes are largely unknown. However, many preclinical studies show that 5-HT 2C agonists counteract the addictive effects of...
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
November 3, 2016
Kristian Gaarn Du Jardin, Heidi Kaastrup Müller, Betina Elfving et al.
A single i.v. infusion of ketamine, classified as an N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, may alleviate depressive symptoms within hours of administration in treatment resistant depressed patients, and the antidepressant effect may last for several weeks. These unique therapeutic properties have prompted researchers to explore the mechanisms mediating the antidepressant effects of...
Pharmacological Research
November 2016
Danilo de Gregorio, Luca Posa, Rafael Ochoa-Sanchez et al.
d-lysergic diethylamide (LSD) is a hallucinogenic drug that interacts with the serotonin (5-HT) system binding to 5-HT1 and 5-HT2 receptors. Little is known about its potential interactions with the dopamine (DA) neurons of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). Using in-vivo electrophysiology in male adult rats, we evaluated the effects of cumulative doses of LSD on VTA DA neuronal activity,...
The World Journal of Biological Psychiatry
October 10, 2016
Steven F. Grieco, Dmitry Velmeshev, M. Magistri et al.
Abstract Objectives: We examined mechanisms that contribute to the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine in mice that is dependent on glycogen synthase kinase-3 (GSK3) inhibition. Methods: We measured serotonergic (5HT)-2C-receptor (5HTR2C) cluster microRNA (miRNA) levels in mouse hippocampus after administering an antidepressant dose of ketamine (10 mg/kg) in wild-type and GSK3 knockin mice,...
Biochemical Pharmacology
September 13, 2016
Natalie R Sealover, Bruce Felts, Charles P. Kuntz et al.
The substituted amphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy), is a widely used drug of abuse that induces non-exocytotic release of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine through their cognate transporters as well as blocking the reuptake of neurotransmitter by the same transporters. The resulting dramatic increase in volume transmission and signal duration of...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
September 6, 2016
Helle Ruff Laursen, Susanne Henningsson, Julian Macoveanu et al.
8 citations
The brain’s serotonergic system plays a crucial role in the processing of emotional stimuli, and several studies have shown that a reduced serotonergic neurotransmission is associated with an increase in amygdala activity during emotional face processing. Prolonged recreational use of ecstasy (3,4-methylene-dioxymethamphetamine [MDMA]) induces alterations in serotonergic neurotransmission that...