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Addict Health 2021 Jan;13(1):36-44

Department of Parasitology and Mycology, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Background: There is an increasing concern over acute exposure of amphetamine and its derivative such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on male reproductive toxicity. Supplementary vitamins can reduce the oxidative stresses and repair the damages on reproductive organs. This experimental study was conducted to evaluate the effects of folic acid (FA) on reproductive indices, the antioxidant enzyme activities, and histological changes of testis on adult male rats treated by MDMA. Read More

J Neurochem 2021 May 15. Epub 2021 May 15.

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5S 1A8.

In Parkinson's disease, dopamine-containing nigrostriatal neurons undergo profound degeneration. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) is the rate-limiting enzyme in dopamine biosynthesis. TH increases in vitro formation of reactive oxygen species, and previous animal studies have reported links between cytosolic dopamine buildup and oxidative stress. Read More

Sci Prog 2021 Apr-Jun;104(2):368504211011339

Regional Laboratory, Ministry of Health, Najran, Saudi Arabia.

Acute poisoning is considered one of the most important medical emergencies, resulting in severe morbidity and mortality, and is an economic burden on governments. This study aimed to determine the extent of acute adult intoxication among the population located in the Najran area, Saudi Arabia, over the last 3 years (from January 2017 to December 2019). The study is a hospital-based retrospective observational study. Read More

Molecules 2021 Apr 24;26(9). Epub 2021 Apr 24.

Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Via Roma 55, 56126 Pisa, Italy.

Curcumin (CUR), a natural polyphenol extracted from rhizome of the , has received great attention for its multiple potential health benefits as well as disease prevention. For instance, CUR protects against toxic agents acting on the human body, including the nervous system. In detail, CUR possesses, among others, strong effects as an autophagy activator. Read More

Water Res 2021 Jun 25;197:117007. Epub 2021 Mar 25.

University of South Bohemia in České Budějovice, Faculty of Fisheries and Protection of Waters, South Bohemian Research Center of Aquaculture and Biodiversity of Hydrocenoses, Zátiší 728/II, 389 25 Vodňany, Czech Republic.

The article presented by Wang et al. (2020) intends to elucidate the possible ecological effects of low (0.05-25 μg L) and higher (100 μg L) concentrations of methamphetamine on adult Oryzias latipes through a battery of assays, including histopathology. Read More

Antioxidants (Basel) 2021 Mar 4;10(3). Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Department of Pharmacology and Clinical Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, George Emil Palade University of Medicine, Pharmacy, Science and Technology of Târgu Mureș, 540142 Târgu Mureș, Romania.

Nowadays, more and more young people want to experience illegal, psychoactive substances, without knowing the risks of exposure. Besides affecting social life, psychoactive substances also have an important effect on consumer health. We summarized and analyzed the published literature data with reference to the mechanism of free radical generation and the link between chemical structure and oxidative stress related to dopaminergic neurotransmission. Read More

Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2021 05 27;419:115513. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, School of Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, United States of America. Electronic address:

The early characterization of ligands at the dopamine and serotonin transporters, DAT and SERT, respectively, is important for drug discovery, forensic sciences, and drug abuse research. 4-Methyl amphetamine (4-MA) is a good example of an abused drug whose overdose can be fatal. It is a potent substrate at DAT and SERT where its simplest secondary amine (N-methyl 4-MA) retains substrate activity at them. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Aug 19;780:146587. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, PR China.

The adverse effects on model fish induced by methamphetamine (METH) have been revealed. However, the toxicity of METH on different kinds of non-model fish during the natural attenuation remained unclear. Hence, in this study, we for the first time established a static lab-scale aquatic ecosystem spiked with METH (initial levels at 25 μg/L) for 40 days to estimate its metabolism and toxicity in Chinese medaka, rosy bitterling, loach, and mosquito fish. Read More

Addiction 2021 Mar 19. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA), Lisbon, Portugal.

Aims: To determine trends in 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-related death rates across Australia, Finland, Portugal and Turkey and to analyse the toxicology and causes of death across countries.

Design: Analysis of MDMA-related deaths extracted from a national coronial database in Australia (2001-19) and national forensic toxicology databases in Finland (2001-17), Portugal (2008-19) and Turkey (2007-17). Presentation of MDMA use and seizure data (market indicators). Read More

Clin Toxicol (Phila) 2021 Mar 16:1-13. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Emergency Department, Hospital Clínic, IDIBAPS, Barcelona, Spain.

Objective: To analyse the relative percentage of acute recreational drug toxicity emergency department (ED) presentations involving the main drug groups according to age and sex and investigate different patterns based on sex and age strata.

Methods: We analysed all patients with acute recreational drug toxicity included by the Euro-DEN Plus dataset (22 EDs in 14 European countries) between October 2013 and December 2016 (39 months). Drugs were grouped as: opioids, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamines, gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), hallucinogens, new psychoactive substances (NPS), benzodiazepines and ketamine. Read More

PLoS One 2021 11;16(3):e0246297. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Department of Clinical Toxicology, Medical University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland.

Background: This study was conducted to retrospectively assess the relationships between: rhabdomyolysis (quantified by creatine kinase (CK) activity) and kidney injury (quantified by serum creatinine concentration), sex, age, body temperature on admission, presence of seizures, and agitation or aggression in patients presenting to the Emergency Department with acute recreational drug toxicity. We also investigated the association with the substances ingested.

Methods: All presentations to the 16 sentinel Euro-DEN centres in 10 European countries with acute recreational drug toxicity during the first year of the Euro-DEN study (October 2013 to September 2014) were considered. Read More

Analyst 2021 Apr;146(8):2718-2725

School of Information and Communication Engineering, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu 611731, P. R. China.

Point-of-care testing (POCT) systems have been greatly developed in recent years. Among them, lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) based on magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) is widely used in various fields due to the advantages of small background noise and good biocompatibility. This paper designed an ultra-sensitive giant magnetic resistance (GMR) system for the quantitative detection of methamphetamine (MET). Read More

Forensic Sci Int 2021 Apr 26;321:110746. Epub 2021 Feb 26.

King Abdul-Aziz Hospital, Laboratory Department, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Electronic address:

A more than 500% increase in the number of deaths involving methamphetamine occurred between 2016 and 2018 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As such, this report employed a validated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method to quantify methamphetamine and its metabolites in bodily fluids from 47 postmortem cases in which methamphetamine was involved. The mean age of the deceased was 33 years old (median: 30, range: 16-63), and 94% were male. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2021 Feb 25;22(5). Epub 2021 Feb 25.

College of Pharmacy, Keimyung University, Daegu 42601, Korea.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a highly addictive drug that induces irreversible damage to neuronal cells and pathological malfunction in the brain. Aromadendrin, isolated from the flowers of , has been shown to have anti-inflammatory or anti-tumor activity. Nevertheless, it has been reported that METH exacerbates neurotoxicity by inducing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress via the phosphoinositide 3-kinase/Akt/mammalian target of rapamycin (PI3K/Akt/mTOR) pathway in neuronal cells. Read More

J Pharmacol Exp Ther 2021 05 23;377(2):232-241. Epub 2021 Feb 23.

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia, USA

This study evaluated a battery of pain-stimulated, pain-depressed, and pain-independent behaviors for preclinical pharmacological assessment of candidate analgesics in mice. Intraperitoneal injection of dilute lactic acid (IP acid) served as an acute visceral noxious stimulus to produce four pain-related behaviors in male and female ICR mice: stimulation of 1) stretching, 2) facial grimace, 3) depression of rearing, and 4) depression of nesting. Additionally, nesting and locomotion in the absence of the noxious stimulus were used to assess pain-independent drug effects. Read More

Toxicol Appl Pharmacol 2021 04 18;416:115442. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal. Electronic address:

Cathinone derivatives are the most representative group within new drugs market, which have been described as neurotoxic. Since cathinones, as pentedrone and methylone, are available as racemates, it is our aim to study the neuronal cytotoxicity induced by each enantiomer. Therefore, a dopaminergic SH-SY5Y cell line was used to evaluate the hypothesis of enantioselectivity of pentedrone and methylone enantiomers on cytotoxicity, oxidative stress, and membrane efflux transport (confirmed by in silico studies). Read More

Mol Med Rep 2021 04 19;23(4). Epub 2021 Feb 19.

Department of Neurology, Affiliated Drum Tower Clinical Medical College of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210000, P.R. China.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia that is primarily characterized by progressive cognitive deficits. The toxicity of amyloid β‑protein (Aβ) serves an important role in the progression of AD, resulting in neuronal loss via a number of possible mechanisms, including oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, energy depletion, apoptosis and neuroinflammation. Previous studies have reported that cocaine amphetamine regulated transcript (CART) treatment improves memory and synaptic structure in APP/PS1 mice. Read More

Arch Toxicol 2021 04 7;95(4):1443-1462. Epub 2021 Feb 7.

UCIBIO, REQUIMTE, Laboratory of Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira No. 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal.

Synthetic cathinones are among the most popular new psychoactive substances, being abused for their stimulant properties, which are similar to those of amphetamine and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Considering that the liver is a likely target for cathinones-induced toxicity, and for their metabolic activation/detoxification, we aimed to determine the hepatotoxicity of three commonly abused synthetic cathinones: butylone, α-methylamino-butyrophenone (buphedrone) and 3,4-dimethylmethcathinone (3,4-DMMC). We characterized their cytotoxic profile in primary rat hepatocytes (PRH) and in the HepaRG and HepG2 cell lines. Read More

Neurosci Lett 2021 02 19;746:135652. Epub 2021 Jan 19.

Neuroscience Research Center, Institute of Neuropharmacology, Kerman University of Medical Sciences, Kerman, Iran. Electronic address:

Methamphetamine (METH) may cause long‒lasting neurotoxic effects and cognitive impairment. On the other hand, the ovarian hormones estrogen and progesterone have neuroprotective effects. In the current study, we aimed to examine the effects of estrogen and progesterone on anxiety‒like behavior and neuronal damage in METH‒exposed ovariectomized (OVX) rats. Read More

Aust N Z J Public Health 2021 02 18;45(1):9-12. Epub 2021 Jan 18.

College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, South Australia.

Cardiovasc Toxicol 2021 May 9;21(5):375-386. Epub 2021 Jan 9.

Forensic Medicine and Clinical Toxicology Department, Faculty of Medicine, Tanta University, Tanta, Egypt.

Cardio- and neurotoxicity of amphetamines play an important role in worsening morbidity, making the initial evaluation of the patient's status a potentially lifesaving action. The current study hypothesized that the S-100β serum level could predict the severity of acute amphetamine toxicity and the in-hospital outcome. The current study is a prospective cohort study conducted on 77 patients diagnosed with acute amphetamine exposure and referred to Aseer Poison Control Center, Saudi Arabia. Read More

Oxid Med Cell Longev 2020 27;2020:8874304. Epub 2020 Nov 27.

Department of Clinical Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning 110122, China.

Methamphetamine is a derivative of amphetamines, a highly addictive central stimulant with multiple systemic toxicity including the brain, heart, liver, lung, and spleen. It has adverse effects such as apoptosis and breakdown of the blood-brain barrier. Methamphetamine is a fatal and toxic chemical substance, and its lethal mechanism has been widely studied in recent years. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2020 Dec 17;21(24). Epub 2020 Dec 17.

Department of Pharmacy and Biotechnology, Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy.

Psychedelic and stimulating phenethylamines belong to the family of new psychoactive substances (NPS). The acute toxicity framework has begun to be investigated, while studies showing genotoxic potential are very limited or not available. Therefore, in order to fill this gap, the aim of the present work was to evaluate the genotoxicity by treating TK6 cells with 2C-H, 2C-I, 2C-B, 25B-NBOMe, and the popular 3,4-Methylenedioxymethylamphetamine (MDMA). Read More

Addict Behav 2021 03 4;114:106752. Epub 2020 Dec 4.

West Virginia University School of Medicine (WVU SOM), Morgantown, WV 26505, USA; West Virginia Clinical and Translational Science Institute, Morgantown, WV 26505, USA.

Objective: Funding to address the current opioid epidemic has focused on treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD); however, rates of other substance use disorders (SUDs) remain high and non-opioid related overdoses account for nearly 30% of overdoses. This study assesses the prevalence of co-occurring substance use in West Virginia (WV) to inform treatment strategies. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of, and demographic and clinical characteristics (including age, gender, hepatitis C virus (HCV) status) associated with, co-occurring substance use among patients with OUD in WV. Read More

Neurotoxicology 2021 03 15;83:1-13. Epub 2020 Dec 15.

Department of Biomedical Sciences, Section of Neuroscience, University of Cagliari, Cagliari, Italy; National Research Council of Italy, Neuroscience Institute, Cagliari, Italy.

Clinical and preclinical evidence indicates that prenatal exposure to glucocorticoids may induce detrimental effects in the offspring, including reduction in fetal growth and alterations in the CNS. On this basis, the present study investigated whether in utero exposure to high levels of glucocorticoids is a risk factor that may lead to an exacerbation of the central noxious effects induced by psychoactive drugs consumed later in life. To this end, pregnant C57BL6/J dams were treated with dexamethasone (DEX, 0. Read More

J Anal Toxicol 2021 Feb;45(1):8-20

NMS Labs, Toxicology Department, Horsham, PA 19044, USA.

Synthetic stimulants are the largest class of novel psychoactive substances identified each year by forensic laboratories internationally. While hundreds of these drugs appear in drug powders, only a few proliferate in use among forensically relevant populations and eventually emerge in postmortem and clinical investigations. Beta-keto-methylenedioxyamphetamines (i. Read More

Life Sci 2021 Jan 2;265:118844. Epub 2020 Dec 2.

Research Center for Neuroscience, Institute of Molecular Biosciences, Mahidol University, Salaya, Nakornpathom 73170, Thailand. Electronic address:

Aims: Methamphetamine (METH) has become a major public health problem because of its abuse and profound neurotoxic effects, causing alterations in brain structure and function, and impairing cognitive functions, including attention, decision making, emotional memory, and working memory. This study aimed to determine whether melatonin (MEL), the circadian-control hormone, which has roles beyond circadian rhythm regulation, could restore METH-induced cognitive and neuronal impairment.

Main Methods: Mice were treated with either METH (1 mg/kg) or saline for 7 days, followed by MEL (10 mg/kg) or saline for another 14 days. Read More

Arch Toxicol 2021 01 2;95(1):229-252. Epub 2020 Dec 2.

NMI Natural and Medical Sciences Institute at the University of Tuebingen, 72770, Reutlingen, Germany.

Prediction of drug toxicity on the human nervous system still relies mainly on animal experiments. Here, we developed an alternative system allowing assessment of complex signaling in both individual human neurons and on the network level. The LUHMES cultures used for our approach can be cultured in 384-well plates with high reproducibility. Read More

BMC Pediatr 2020 12 3;20(1):543. Epub 2020 Dec 3.

Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.

Objectives: To evaluate the efficacy of oral clonazepam versus oral lorazepam following initial parenteral benzodiazepine administration to control methamphetamine-induced agitation in children.

Methods: In a single-center clinical trial, intravenous diazepam (0.2 mg/Kg) was initially administered to all methamphetamine-poisoned pediatric patients to control their agitation, followed by a single dose of oral clonazepam (0. Read More

J Trauma Acute Care Surg 2021 02;90(2):319-324

From the Division of Trauma, Emergency Surgery, and Surgical Critical Care (M.E.M., K.B., G.V., H.M.A.K.), Massachusetts General Hospital; Department of Surgery (J.P.H.-E., A.S.), Division of Trauma, Burn and Surgical Critical Care, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School; Center for Surgery and Public Health (J.P.H.-E., C.O., A.N.H., A.S.), Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Department of Psychiatry (N.C.L.-C.), Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts; Division of Trauma, Burn and Critical Care Surgery (D.N.), Harborview Medical Center, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington; Division of Trauma, Acute Care Surgery and Surgical Critical Care (S.E.S.), Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, Massachusetts.

Introduction: Psychoactive drug use (PDU) is reported in up to 40% of trauma patients and is associated with a higher rate of in-hospital complications. However, little is known about its long-term impact on trauma patients. We aimed to assess the long-term functional, mental, and psychosocial outcomes of PDU in trauma patients 6 to 12 months after injury. Read More