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 DOI: 10.1037/a0020827 via PubMed
Summary
AI-generated from the abstractMDMA (ecstasy) produces a unique set of behavioral effects in rats that distinguishes it from both stimulants and hallucinogens. In a series of behavioral tests, the effects of MDMA at various doses were compared with those of methamphetamine (a stimulant) and DOI (a hallucinogen). The behavioral profiles allowed researchers to differentiate MDMA from these other drugs. Additionally, four structural analogues of MDMA were tested, but none exactly replicated MDMA's profile, some resembling the stimulant or hallucinogen instead. This highlights MDMA's distinct pharmacological identity as an entactogen.
Study at a glance
| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Rats |
| Interventions | MDMA methamphetamine DOI MDA MDE MDOH MMDA-2 |
| Dose | 0.25, 0.5, 1, 3, 5, and 10 mg/kg for MDMA, MA, and DOI; 1, 5, and 10 mg/kg for MDMA analogues |
| Citations | 12 |
| Key finding | MDMA produces a distinct behavioral profile in rats that differs from both stimulant and hallucinogenic drugs, and no tested analogue exactly replicates its effects. |
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.