The effects of non-medically used psychoactive drugs on monoamine neurotransmission in rat brain.
European journal of pharmacology – March 22, 2007
Source: PubMed
Summary
The brain's intricate communication relies on neurotransmitters, but some psychoactive drugs can dramatically disrupt this balance. A study using a novel method with rat brain cells explored how various non-medical substances affect monoamine neurotransmission. It focused on the re-uptake and release of crucial chemicals like dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Researchers found that several designer drugs, including specific phenethylamine, tryptamine, and piperazine derivatives, powerfully inhibited re-uptake and significantly increased the release of these neurotransmitters. This strong impact on the central nervous system highlights their potent ability to alter brain function, often to the same extent as restricted drugs.
Abstract
We developed a reproducible, simple, and small-scale method for determining the re-uptake and release of monoamines (dopamine, serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine) using rat brain synaptosomes. These assays were then applied to study the effects of different kinds of non-medically used psychoactive drugs on monoamine re-uptake and release. The phenethylamine derivatives, 4-fluoroamphetamine, 2-methylamino-3,4-methylene-dioxy-propiophenone (methylone), 1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-butanamine (BDB), and N-methyl-1-(1,3-benzodioxol-5-yl)-2-butanamine (MBDB), had strong inhibitory effects on the re-uptake of dopamine, 5-HT and norepinephrine. 4-Fluoroamphetamine, methylone and BDB also strongly increased the release of the three monoamines, but MBDB increased 5-HT and norepinephrine release, but had little effect on dopamine release. However, 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenethylamine (2C-I), 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylphenethylamine (2C-E), 2,5-dimethoxy-4-chlorophenethylamine (2C-C), 2,4,5-trimethoxyamphetamine (TMA-2) and 2,4,6-trimethoxyamphetamine (TMA-6), which are methoxylated phenethylamine derivatives, slightly influenced the re-uptake and release of monoamines. Alpha-metyltryptamine (AMT), a tryptamine derivative, was one of the strongest re-uptake inhibitors and releasers of the three monoamines. The tryptamine derivative, 5-methoxy-alpha-methyltryptamine (5-MeO-AMT), also strongly inhibited re-uptake and increased the release of the three monoamines. N,N-dipropyltryptamine (DPT), 5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (5-MeO-DIPT), 5-methoxy-N,N-methylisopropyltryptamine (5-MeO-MIPT), and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) inhibited monoamine re-uptake, but had a few effects on monoamine release. 1-(3-Chlorophenyl)piperazine (3CPP) and 1-(methoxyphenyl)piperazine (4MPP), which are piperazine derivatives, inhibited monoamine re-uptake and accelerated their release. The results suggest that some designer drugs strongly act on the central nerve system to the same extent as restricted drugs.