Behavioral profiles in rats distinguish among "ecstasy," methamphetamine and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine: Mixed effects for "ecstasy" analogues.
David Quinteros-muñoz, Patricio Sáez-briones, Gabriela Díaz-véliz, Sergio Mora-gutiérrez, Marco Rebolledo-fuentes, Bruce K Cassels
Behavioral neuroscience October 1, 2010 Peer reviewed DOI: 10.1037/a0020827 via PubMed
Summary
The study compared the acute effects of MDMA, methamphetamine, and a hallucinogenic analogue in rats using various behavioral tests. It established that MDMA has unique effects that distinguish it from methamphetamine and DOI across different doses (0.25 to 10 mg/kg). Additionally, four MDMA analogues were tested and none replicated MDMA's pharmacological profile, showing similarities to either methamphetamine or DOI instead.
Study at a glance
| Population | rats |
|---|---|
| Key finding | MDMA exhibits unique pharmacological effects that differentiate it from methamphetamine and DOI, with none of the tested MDMA analogues replicating its profile. |
Abstract
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; "ecstasy") is a psychoactive drug structurally related to other phenylisopropylamines acting as stimulants or hallucinogens in humans. Although MDMA has a pharmacological identity of its own, the distinction of its acute effects from those of stimulants or even hallucinogens is controversial. In this work, dose-response curves (0.25, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 10 mg/kg) representing the acute in vivo effects of MDMA were compared with those of a structurally related stimulant (methamphetamine, MA) and a hallucinogenic analogue (2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine, DOI) in a set of behavioral protocols in rats, including spontaneous psychomotor activity, anxiolytic/anxiogenic-like effects and active avoidance conditioning responses. The behavioral profiles obtained allowed us to differentiate among racemic MDMA, MA, and DOI at different dose ranges. In addition, the evaluation of four MDMA analogues (1, 5, and 10 mg/kg) comprising two well-known MDMA analogues (MDA [3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine] and MDE (N-ethyl-MDA, believed to substitute for MDMA) and two other structural analogues (MDOH [N-hydroxy-MDA] and MMDA-2 [2-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyamphetamine]) showed that none of these exactly resembles MDMA in their pharmacological profiles, highlighting the unique character of this prototypical entactogen. In fact, their effects exhibited similarities with the behavioral profiles of either MA or DOI, as well as novel profiles in specific behavioral paradigms.