PMID- 21995495
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20120508
LR  - 20131121
IS  - 1369-1600 (Electronic)
IS  - 1355-6215 (Linking)
VI  - 17
IP  - 2
DP  - 2012 Mar
TI  - Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone, 'meow'): acute behavioural effects and 
      distribution of Fos expression in adolescent rats.
PG  - 409-22
LID - 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00384.x [doi]
AB  - Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) is a novel recreational drug that has rapidly 
      increased in popularity in recent years. Users report mephedrone as having the 
      stimulant-like qualities of methamphetamine and cocaine, combined with the 
      prosocial, entactogenic effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). 
      Anecdotal and case study reports indicate that mephedrone may have the potential 
      to engender compulsive patterns of use as well as toxicity in overdose. However, 
      there have been almost no neuropharmacological investigations of the drug up to 
      this point. Here we examined the effects of two different mephedrone doses [15 
      and 30 mg/kg, intraperitoneal (IP)] relative to the well-known stimulant 
      methamphetamine (2 mg/kg IP) in adolescent rats. Rats were injected, assessed for 
      locomotor activity for 60 minutes and then tested in a 10-minute social 
      preference test (measuring time spent in close proximity to a real rat versus a 
      dummy rat). Their brains were then processed using Fos immunohistochemistry to 
      determine patterns of brain activation. Results showed that mephedrone caused 
      profound locomotor hyperactivity at both dose levels while tending to reduce 
      social preference. Patterns of Fos expression with mephedrone resembled a 
      combination of those observed with methamphetamine and MDMA, with particularly 
      strong Fos expression in the cortex, dorsal and ventral striatum, ventral 
      tegmental area (typical of both MDMA and methamphetamine) and supraoptic nucleus 
      (typical of MDMA). These results demonstrate for the first time the powerful 
      stimulant effects of mephedrone in animal models and its capacity to activate 
      mesolimbic regions. These results also provide some empirical basis to user 
      reports that mephedrone subjectively resembles a MDMA/methamphetamine hybrid.
CI  - (c) 2011 The Authors, Addiction Biology (c) 2011 Society for the Study of Addiction.
FAU - Motbey, Craig P
AU  - Motbey CP
AD  - School of Psychology, University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
FAU - Hunt, Glenn E
AU  - Hunt GE
FAU - Bowen, Michael T
AU  - Bowen MT
FAU - Artiss, Suzanne
AU  - Artiss S
FAU - McGregor, Iain S
AU  - McGregor IS
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20111013
PL  - United States
TA  - Addict Biol
JT  - Addiction biology
JID - 9604935
RN  - 0 (Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos)
RN  - 44RAL3456C (Methamphetamine)
RN  - 8BA8T27317 (mephedrone)
SB  - IM
MH  - Animals
MH  - Behavior, Animal/*drug effects
MH  - Brain Chemistry
MH  - Dose-Response Relationship, Drug
MH  - Immunohistochemistry
MH  - Male
MH  - Methamphetamine/administration & dosage/*analogs & derivatives/pharmacology
MH  - Motor Activity/drug effects
MH  - Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-fos/*metabolism
MH  - Rats
MH  - Rats, Wistar
MH  - Social Behavior
EDAT- 2011/10/15 06:00
MHDA- 2012/05/09 06:00
CRDT- 2011/10/15 06:00
PHST- 2011/10/15 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2011/10/15 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2012/05/09 06:00 [medline]
AID - 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00384.x [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Addict Biol. 2012 Mar;17(2):409-22. doi: 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00384.x. Epub 
      2011 Oct 13.