Neuropsychotoxicity of abused drugs: molecular and neural mechanisms of neuropsychotoxicity induced by methamphetamine, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy), and 5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine (foxy).
Journal of pharmacological sciences January 1, 2008 Takayuki Nakagawa, Shuji Kaneko 44 citations
Drugs of abuse such as amphetamines, cocaine, opioids, and recreational drugs cause dependence and addiction by converging on common neural pathways. Chronic treatment enhances mesocorticolimbic dopaminergic neurons from the ventral tegmental area to the nucleus accumbens and medial prefrontal cortex, and disrupts glutamatergic function between these regions. Serotonergic neurons from the raphe nuclei to limbic areas also modulate this system and contribute to neuropsychotoxicity. This review introduces the authors' in vitro studies on methamphetamine, MDMA (ecstasy), and 5-MeO-DiPT (foxy) using Xenopus oocytes and organotypic slice cultures to examine molecular targets and neural adaptation.