TY - JOUR
T1 - Discriminative and locomotor effects of five synthetic cathinones in rats and mice
AU - Gatch, Michael B.
AU - Rutledge, Margaret A.
AU - Forster, Michael J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Funding was provided by the Addiction Treatment Discovery Program of the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIH N01DA-2-8822 and N01DA-13-8908). Program staff was involved in selection of compounds and test parameters. The ATDP had no further role in study design; the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; or the writing of the report. They have granted permission for the submission of this data for publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
PY - 2015/4
Y1 - 2015/4
N2 - Rationale: Synthetic cathinones continue to be sold as "legal" alternatives to methamphetamine or cocaine. As these marginally legal compounds become controlled, suppliers move to other, unregulated compounds. Objectives: The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether several temporarily controlled cathinone compounds, which are currently abused on the street, stimulate motor activity and have discriminative stimulus effects similar to cocaine and/or methamphetamine. Methods: Methcathinone, pentedrone, pentylone, 3-fluoromethcathinone (3-FMC), and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) were tested for locomotor stimulant effects in mice and subsequently for substitution in rats trained to discriminate cocaine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or methamphetamine (1 mg/kg, i.p.) from saline. Results: Methcathinone, pentedrone, and pentylone produced locomotor stimulant effects which lasted up to 6 h. In addition, pentylone produced convulsions and lethality at 100 mg/kg. 4-MEC produced locomotor stimulant effects which lasted up to 2 h. Methcathinone, pentedrone, pentylone, 3-FMC, and 4-MEC each produced discriminative stimulus effects similar to those of cocaine and methamphetamine. Conclusions: All of the tested compounds produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to either those of cocaine, methamphetamine, or both, which suggests that these compounds are likely to have similar abuse liability to cocaine and/or methamphetamine. Pentylone may be more dangerous on the street, as it produced adverse effects at doses that produced maximal stimulant-like effects.
AB - Rationale: Synthetic cathinones continue to be sold as "legal" alternatives to methamphetamine or cocaine. As these marginally legal compounds become controlled, suppliers move to other, unregulated compounds. Objectives: The purpose of these experiments was to determine whether several temporarily controlled cathinone compounds, which are currently abused on the street, stimulate motor activity and have discriminative stimulus effects similar to cocaine and/or methamphetamine. Methods: Methcathinone, pentedrone, pentylone, 3-fluoromethcathinone (3-FMC), and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC) were tested for locomotor stimulant effects in mice and subsequently for substitution in rats trained to discriminate cocaine (10 mg/kg, i.p.) or methamphetamine (1 mg/kg, i.p.) from saline. Results: Methcathinone, pentedrone, and pentylone produced locomotor stimulant effects which lasted up to 6 h. In addition, pentylone produced convulsions and lethality at 100 mg/kg. 4-MEC produced locomotor stimulant effects which lasted up to 2 h. Methcathinone, pentedrone, pentylone, 3-FMC, and 4-MEC each produced discriminative stimulus effects similar to those of cocaine and methamphetamine. Conclusions: All of the tested compounds produce discriminative stimulus effects similar to either those of cocaine, methamphetamine, or both, which suggests that these compounds are likely to have similar abuse liability to cocaine and/or methamphetamine. Pentylone may be more dangerous on the street, as it produced adverse effects at doses that produced maximal stimulant-like effects.
KW - Abuse liability
KW - Cathinones
KW - Drug discrimination
KW - Locomotor activity
KW - Mouse
KW - Rat
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925508408&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00213-014-3755-3
DO - 10.1007/s00213-014-3755-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 25281225
AN - SCOPUS:84925508408
SN - 0033-3158
VL - 232
SP - 1197
EP - 1205
JO - Psychopharmacologia
JF - Psychopharmacologia
IS - 7
ER -