title: Long-term cognitive and neurochemical effects of "bath salt" designer drugs methylone and mephedrone.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The use of cathinone-derivative designer drugs methylone and mephedrone has increased rapidly in recent years. Our aim was to investigate the possible long-term effects of these drugs on a range of behavioral tests in mice. Further, we investigated the long-term effects of these drugs on brain neurochemistry in both rats and mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  We treated animals with a binge-like regimen of methylone or mephedrone (30 mg/kg, twice daily for 4 days) and, starting 2 weeks later, we performed behavioral tests of memory, anxiety and depression and measured brain levels of dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT), their metabolites and norepinephrine (NE). 5-HT and DA transporter (5-HTT and DAT) levels were also measured in rats by [(3)H]paroxetine and [(3)H]mazindol binding.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mephedrone reduced working memory performance in the T-maze spontaneous alternation task but did not affect neurotransmitter levels aside from a 22% decrease in striatal homovanillic acid (HVA) levels in mice. Methylone had little effect on behavior or neurotransmitter levels in mice but produced a widespread depletion of 5-HT and 5-HTT levels in rats.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Both methylone and mephedrone appeared to have a long-term effect on either behavioral or biochemical gauges of neurotoxicity in rodents.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedicine, Pharmacology, Biomedicum Helsinki, Haartmaninkatu 8, FI-00014, University of Helsinki, Finland. bjornar.denhollander@helsinki.fi
authors.forename: Bjørnar
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: den Hollander
authors.forename: Stanislav
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rozov
authors.forename: Anni-Maija
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.forename: Mikko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Uusi-Oukari
authors.forename: Ilkka
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ojanperä
authors.forename: Esa R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Korpi
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001007:Anxiety / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D003863:Depression / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000378:metabolism; D015198:Designer Drugs / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000494:pharmacology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D019417:Hindlimb Suspension; D008297:Male; D018782:Maze Learning / Q000187:drug effects; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000139:chemically induced* / Q000378:metabolism; D008694:Methamphetamine / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism; D011869:Radioligand Assay; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015198:Designer Drugs; D050483:Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins; D012701:Serotonin; D008694:Methamphetamine; C548233:mephedrone; C400939:methylone; D004298:Dopamine; D009638:Norepinephrine