School of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
Addict Biol. 2012 Mar;17(2):409-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00384.x. Epub 2011 Oct 13.
Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) is a novel recreational drug that has rapidly increased in popularity in recent years. Users report mephedrone as having the stimulant-like qualities of methamphetamine and cocaine, combined with the prosocial, entactogenic effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Anecdotal and case study reports indicate that mephedrone may have the potential to engender compulsive patterns of use as well as toxicity in overdose. However, there have been almost no neuropharmacological investigations of the drug up to this point. Here we examined the effects of two different mephedrone doses [15 and 30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (IP)] relative to the well-known stimulant methamphetamine (2 mg/kg IP) in adolescent rats. Rats were injected, assessed for locomotor activity for 60 minutes and then tested in a 10-minute social preference test (measuring time spent in close proximity to a real rat versus a dummy rat). Their brains were then processed using Fos immunohistochemistry to determine patterns of brain activation. Results showed that mephedrone caused profound locomotor hyperactivity at both dose levels while tending to reduce social preference. Patterns of Fos expression with mephedrone resembled a combination of those observed with methamphetamine and MDMA, with particularly strong Fos expression in the cortex, dorsal and ventral striatum, ventral tegmental area (typical of both MDMA and methamphetamine) and supraoptic nucleus (typical of MDMA). These results demonstrate for the first time the powerful stimulant effects of mephedrone in animal models and its capacity to activate mesolimbic regions. These results also provide some empirical basis to user reports that mephedrone subjectively resembles a MDMA/methamphetamine hybrid.
麦角酸二乙酰胺（4-甲基甲卡西酮）是一种新型的娱乐性药物，近年来在人群中迅速流行起来。使用者报告说，麦角酸二乙酰胺具有类似于甲基苯丙胺和可卡因的兴奋剂特性，同时还具有 3,4-亚甲二氧基甲基苯丙胺（MDMA）的促社交和致快感作用。传闻和案例研究报告表明，麦角酸二乙酰胺可能具有导致强迫性使用模式以及过量使用产生毒性的潜力。然而，到目前为止，对该药物几乎没有进行过神经药理学研究。在这里，我们研究了两种不同剂量的麦角酸二乙酰胺[15 和 30 mg/kg，腹腔内（IP）]相对于众所周知的兴奋剂甲基苯丙胺（2 mg/kg IP）对青少年大鼠的影响。大鼠被注射后，评估其 60 分钟的运动活性，然后在 10 分钟的社交偏好测试中进行测试（测量与真实大鼠和假大鼠近距离接触的时间）。然后，他们的大脑用 Fos 免疫组织化学处理，以确定大脑激活模式。结果表明，麦角酸二乙酰胺在两个剂量水平下都导致了明显的运动过度活跃，同时倾向于降低社交偏好。麦角酸二乙酰胺的 Fos 表达模式类似于观察到的甲基苯丙胺和 MDMA 的组合，特别是在皮质、背侧和腹侧纹状体、腹侧被盖区（与 MDMA 和甲基苯丙胺都有关）和视上核（与 MDMA 有关）中表现出强烈的 Fos 表达。这些结果首次证明了麦角酸二乙酰胺在动物模型中的强大兴奋剂作用及其激活中脑边缘区域的能力。这些结果也为用户报告提供了一些经验依据，即麦角酸二乙酰胺在主观上类似于 MDMA/甲基苯丙胺的混合物。
