Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience
December 16, 2021
Sophia Khom, Jacques D. Nguyen, Sophia A. Vandewater et al.
12 citations
Female rats that self-administer the entactogen psychostimulants methylone, pentylone, and MDMA escalate their drug intake under extended-access conditions, similar to male rats and typical psychostimulants. Pentylone and methylone led to more infusions than MDMA, and pentylone produced higher breakpoints in progressive ratio testing. In the central amygdala, baseline GABAergic inhibition was elevated after pentylone and MDMA self-administration: pentylone increased both GABA release and postsynaptic receptor function, while MDMA increased only postsynaptic function. Both drugs disrupted kappa opioid receptor signaling, with both agonist and antagonist decreasing GABA release, indicating non-canonical pathways. These findings suggest central amygdala GABA and kappa opioid mechanisms are critically involved in entactogen self-administration escalation.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
July 21, 2017
Mehrak Javadi-Paydar, Jacques D. Nguyen, Sophia A. Vandewater et al.
7 citations
preprint
Second generation synthetic cathinones pentedrone and pentylone produce dose-dependent increases in locomotion in male and female Wistar rats, with the maximum effect similar across drugs but lasting longest after pentedrone. Body temperature remained stable after pentedrone or pentylone, while methylone caused sustained hyperthermia in male rats. Rats self-administered more pentedrone or pentylone than methylone, but all three were less potent than α-PVP or α-PHP. These results suggest that pentedrone and pentylone have greater abuse liability than methylone.
bioRxiv Preprint Server
September 24, 2021
Sophia Khom, Jacques D. Nguyen, Sophia A. Vandewater et al.
preprint
Female rats that self-administered the entactogen psychostimulants methylone, pentylone, or MDMA under extended-access conditions escalated their drug intake, with methylone and pentylone producing more infusions than MDMA. Pentylone also led to higher breakpoints in progressive-ratio testing, indicating greater motivation. At the cellular level, both pentylone and MDMA increased baseline GABA transmission in the central nucleus of the amygdala (CeA): pentylone raised both the frequency and amplitude of miniature inhibitory postsynaptic currents, while MDMA increased only amplitude. Both drugs disrupted kappa opioid receptor (KOR) signaling in the CeA, with both KOR agonism and antagonism reducing GABA release, suggesting recruitment of non-canonical pathways. These findings indicate that CeA GABA and KOR mechanisms are critically involved in entactogen self-administration, similar to patterns seen with alcohol and cocaine.