ArticleNeuropharmacology2018
Assessing the role of dopamine in the differential neurotoxicity patterns of methamphetamine, mephedrone, methcathinone and 4-methylmethamphetamine.
Article in Neuropharmacology, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 18 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
18 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 32 citations in OpenAlex.
- Neurobehavioral Disorders and Cognitive Impairment in Methcathinone Exposure: A Systematic Review of Literature.Current neuropharmacology · 2025Pooled it
- Neurotoxicity-Based Toxicometabolomics ofACS omega · 2025Article
- The Gut Microbiome Regulates the Psychomotor Effects and Context-Dependent Rewarding Responses to Cocaine in Germ-Free and Antibiotic-Treated Animal Models.Microorganisms · 2025Article
- Methcathinone Increases Visually-evoked Neuronal Activity and Enhances Sensory Processing Efficiency in Mice.Neuroscience bulletin · 2023Article
- Multifaceted roles of orexin neurons in mediating methamphetamine-induced changes in body temperature and heart rate.IBRO neuroscience reports · 2022Article
- Dopamine D1 receptors mediate methamphetamine-induced dopaminergic damage: involvement of autophagy regulation via the AMPK/FOXO3A pathway.Psychopharmacology · 2022Article
- Psychoactive Drugs-From Chemical Structure to Oxidative Stress Related to Dopaminergic Neurotransmission. A Review.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- The psychoactive drug of abuse mephedrone differentially disrupts blood-brain barrier properties.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2021Article
- Alcohol Co-Administration Changes Mephedrone-Induced Alterations of Neuronal Activity.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Article
- The Role of Chinese Herbal Therapy in Methamphetamine Abuse and its Induced Psychiatric Symptoms.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2021Review
- Effects of Methcathinone Exposure during Prenatal and Lactational Periods on the Development and the Learning and Memory Abilities of Rat Offspring.Neurotoxicity research · 2020Article
- High ambient temperature increases the toxicity and lethality of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and methcathinone.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2020Article
- Synthetic psychoactive cathinones: hypothermia and reduced lethality compared to methamphetamine and methylenedioxymethamphetamine.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2020Article
- New psychoactive substances: Pharmacology influencing UK practice, policy and the law.British journal of clinical pharmacology · 2020Review
- Abuse potential and toxicity of the synthetic cathinones (i.e., "Bath salts").Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Review
- The Neuroprotective Effect of L-Stepholidine on Methamphetamine-Induced Memory Deficits in Mice.Neurotoxicity research · 2019Article
- Dissociation between hypothermia and neurotoxicity caused by mephedrone and methcathinone in TPH2 knockout mice.Psychopharmacology · 2019Article
- Cognitive deficits and neurotoxicity induced by synthetic cathinones: is there a role for neuroinflammation?Psychopharmacology · 2019Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Methamphetamine and mephedrone are designer drugs with high abuse liability and they share extensive similarities in their chemical structures and neuropharmacological effects. However, these drugs differ in one significant regard: methamphetamine elicits dopamine neurotoxicity and mephedrone does not. From a structural perspective, mephedrone has a β-keto group and a 4-methyl ring addition, both of which are lacking in methamphetamine. Our previous studies found that methcathinone, which contains only the β-keto substituent, is neurotoxic, while 4-methylmethamphetamine, which contains only the 4-methyl ring substituent, elicits minimal neurotoxicity. In the present study, it was hypothesized that the varying neurotoxic potential associated with these compounds is mediated by the drug-releasable pool of dopamine, which may be accessed by methamphetamine more readily than mephedrone, methcathinone, and 4-methylmethamphetamine. To test this hypothesis, l-DOPA and pargyline, compounds known to increase both the releasable pool of dopamine and methamphetamine neurotoxicity, were combined with mephedrone, 4-methylmethamphetamine and methcathinone. Methamphetamine was also tested because of its ability to increase releasable dopamine. All three regimens significantly enhanced striatal neurotoxicity and glial reactivity for 4-methylmethamphetamine. Methcathinone neurotoxicity and glial reactivity were enhanced only by l-DOPA. Mephedrone remained non-neurotoxic when combined with either l-DOPA or pargyline. Body temperature effects of each designer drug were not altered by the combined treatments. These results support the conclusion that the neurotoxicity of 4-methylmethamphetamine, methcathinone and methamphetamine may be differentially regulated by the drug-releasable pool of dopamine due to β-keto and 4-methyl substituents, but that mephedrone remains non-neurotoxic despite large increases in this pool of dopamine. This article is part of the Special Issue entitled 'Designer Drugs and Legal Highs.'
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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.