Abstract
Synthetic cathinones, colloquially referred to as "bath salts", are derivatives of the psychoactive alkaloid cathinone found in Catha edulis (Khat). Since the mid-to-late 2000's, these amphetamine-like psychostimulants have gained popularity amongst drug users due to their potency, low cost, ease of procurement, and constantly evolving chemical structures. Concomitant with their increased use is the emergence of a growing collection of case reports of bizarre and dangerous behaviors, toxicity to numerous organ systems, and death. However, scientific information regarding the abuse liability of these drugs has been relatively slower to materialize. Recently we have published several studies demonstrating that laboratory rodents will readily self-administer the "first generation" synthetic cathinones methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) and methylone via the intravenous route, in patterns similar to those of methamphetamine. Under progressive ratio schedules of reinforcement, the rank order of reinforcing efficacy of these compounds are MDPV ≥ methamphetamine > methylone. MDPV and methylone, as well as the "second generation" synthetic cathinones α-pyrrolidinovalerophenone (α-PVP) and 4-methylethcathinone (4-MEC), also dose-dependently increase brain reward function. Collectively, these findings indicate that synthetic cathinones have a high abuse and addiction potential and underscore the need for future assessment of the extent and duration of neurotoxicity induced by these emerging drugs of abuse.
Highlights
In 2007, a new class of designer drugs known as synthetic cathinones emerged in Europe
As with MDPV, we observed a positive relationship between methylone dose and breakpoints for self-administration under progressive ratio conditions. These findings indicate that MDPV and methylone are readily self-administered intravenously by laboratory rats and are in agreement with studies from other laboratories showing that MDPV, as well as the synthetic cathinone mephedrone, is self-administered intravenously by rodents [35, 59,60,61]
We have demonstrated that laboratory rats will voluntarily self-administer the “first generation” synthetic cathinones MDPV and methylone via the intravenous route
Summary
In 2007, a new class of designer drugs known as synthetic cathinones emerged in Europe. Reports of synthetic cathinone use, abuse, toxicity, and death began to surface in USA [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12]. Synthetic cathinones are often sold under brand names such as “Ivory Wave” and “Vanilla Sky” and are usually labeled “not for human consumption” or “for research purposes only” [15]. These packages typically consist of one or multiple synthetic cathinones and are often mixed with other substances such as caffeine, topical anesthetics, binding and cutting agents, and even other illicit drugs [11, 16]. Despite the high risk of these adverse effects, users of synthetic cathinones frequently report a persistent desire to continue use of these drugs, and prolonged periods of synthetic cathinone use have been reported [2, 3, 6, 8, 12, 21,22,23,24,25,26,27], suggesting a high potential for addiction and dependence
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