ReviewBritish journal of pharmacology2014
The preclinical pharmacology of mephedrone; not just MDMA by another name.
Review in British journal of pharmacology, 2014. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 26 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
26 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Human Pharmacology of Mephedrone in Comparison with MDMA.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2016Trial
- First French case of fatal NPS poly-consumption involving bromazolam and 2-MMC: insights from NMR and LC-HRMS.International journal of legal medicine · 2026Article
- Chemsex Interventions for Men Who Have Sex With Men: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Cureus · 2025Review
- Cell-Specific Vulnerability of Human Glioblastoma and Astrocytoma Cells to Mephedrone-An In Vitro Study.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Overview of Movement Disorders Secondary to Drugs.Clinics and practice · 2023Review
- 4-Isobutylmethcathinone-A Novel Synthetic Cathinone with High In Vitro Cytotoxicity and Strong Receptor Binding Preference of Enantiomers.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Novel Psychoactive Substances: The Razor's Edge between Therapeutical Potential and Psychoactive Recreational Misuse.Medicines (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- In vitro metabolic profile of mexedrone, a mephedrone analog, studied by high- and low-resolution mass spectrometry.Drug testing and analysis · 2022Article
- Central Effects of the Designer Drug Mephedrone in Mice-Basic Studies.Brain sciences · 2022Article
- Psychoactive Substances Taken with Mephedrone and HCV Infection.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Effects of Hydroxylated Mephedrone Metabolites on Monoamine Transporter ActivityFrontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- New psychoactive substances: Pharmacology influencing UK practice, policy and the law.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Review
- A review of the influence of functional group modifications to the core scaffold of synthetic cathinones on drug pharmacokinetics.Psychopharmacology · 2019Review
- Rapid Detection and Quantification of Novel Psychoactive Substances (NPS) Using Raman Spectroscopy and Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering.Frontiers in chemistry · 2019Article
- Prevalence of reagent test-kit use and perceptions of purity among ecstasy users in an electronic dance music scene in New York City.Drug and alcohol review · 2019Article
- Mephedrone and Alcohol Interactions in Humans.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
- The role of nonmuscle myosin II in polydrug memories and memory reconsolidation.Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.) · 2018Article
- Behavioural, Pharmacokinetic, Metabolic, and Hyperthermic Profile of 3,4-Methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) in the Wistar Rat.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2018Article
- Synthesis, characterization and monoamine transporter activity of the new psychoactive substance mexedrone and its N-methoxy positional isomer, N-methoxymephedrone.Drug testing and analysis · 2017Article
- Evidence of 2 Populations of Mephedrone Abusers by Hair Testing. Application to 4 Forensic Expertises.Current neuropharmacology · 2017Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The substituted β-keto amphetamine mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) was banned in the UK in April 2010 but continues to be used recreationally in the UK and elsewhere. Users have compared its psychoactive effects to those of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy'). This review critically examines the preclinical data on mephedrone that have appeared over the last 2-3 years and, where relevant, compares the pharmacological effects of mephedrone in experimental animals with those obtained following MDMA administration. Both mephedrone and MDMA enhance locomotor activity and change rectal temperature in rodents. However, both of these responses are of short duration following mephedrone compared with MDMA probably because mephedrone has a short plasma half-life and rapid metabolism. Mephedrone appears to have no pharmacologically active metabolites, unlike MDMA. There is also little evidence that mephedrone induces a neurotoxic decrease in monoamine concentration in rat or mouse brain, again in contrast to MDMA. Mephedrone and MDMA both induce release of dopamine and 5-HT in the brain as shown by in vivo and in vitro studies. The effect on 5-HT release in vivo is more marked with mephedrone even though both drugs have similar affinity for the dopamine and 5-HT transporters in vitro. The profile of action of mephedrone on monoamine receptors and transporters suggests it could have a high abuse liability and several studies have found that mephedrone supports self-administration at a higher rate than MDMA. Overall, current data suggest that mephedrone not only differs from MDMA in its pharmacological profile, behavioural and neurotoxic effects, but also differs from other cathinones.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.