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Effects of 3,4‐Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on Place Conditioning in Mice
Author(s) -
Gan Brenda,
Tobacyk Julia,
Fantegrossi William
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.930.9
Subject(s) - mdma , conditioned place preference , pharmacology , ecstasy , cathinone , drugs of abuse , sensitization , mephedrone , hallucinogen , designer drug , drug , conditioning , psychology , medicine , morphine , psychiatry , amphetamine , neuroscience , dopamine , statistics , mathematics
Recently, there has been an increase in abuse of new synthetic psychostimulant drugs derived from the cathinone structure. These products are typically referred to as “bath salts”, and one of the most common psychoactive constituents of these preparations is 3,4‐methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). In these studies, we used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to explore the apparent appetitive effects of MDPV in mice, as compared to those of the structurally similar psychostimulant 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The primary aims of this study were to investigate whether MDPV and MDMA induce CPP in mice, to determine the dose‐responsiveness of the CPPs elicited by these compounds, to compare the magnitude of CPP between drugs, and explore whether binge exposure to either MDPV or MDMA one week before the first CPP pairing increased preference scores for either drug, perhaps consistent with the concept of “sensitization” to abuse‐related effects of these compounds. Adult male NIH Swiss mice were conditioned with MDPV and MDMA at doses of 1, 3, or 10 mg/kg (i.p.), with mice receiving two pairing sessions (one saline‐one drug) per day for 3 days. Binge exposure animals were treated with 3 mg/kg MDPV or MDMA every two hours over an eight hour period, and then conditioned for CPP one week later. Both MDPV and MDMA elicited significant place preference across the doses studied, with MDPV producing CPP equal to or higher than that of MDMA. The effects of binge exposure on CPP will be discussed. Given the public health concerns related to “bath salts” use, future studies of both the acute and chronic effects of these compounds are necessary to fully understand the effects of these drugs and their potential for abuse. Studies supported by T32 DA022981 .