Year: 2019
Type: editorial
Abstract: Novel Psychoactive DrugsIn the last decade, the trend of drug consumption has completely changed, and an incredibly high number of new psychoactive substances (NPS) have flooded the drug market as legal alternatives to common drugs of abuse.The advent of NPS has contributed to the appearance and growth of a new "drug scenario" characterized by an increased number of intoxicated people presenting with emergencies after consumption of drugs with unknown effects or safety profiles.Indeed, the acute effects of NPS and their long-term side effects are not always known, and safety data regarding their toxicity are often unavailable.Considering that a total of 803 NPS were reported in the period 2009-2017, it is clear that such a situation poses additional challenges for identification, control, and treatment strategies.We felt that the time has come to deepen and expand our understanding of the peripheral and central actions of NPS and their health consequences.Working as preclinical (LF) and clinical researchers (AW), we have decided to collect leading groups of scientists working in the field to "make the point" of NPS at several levels, from epidemiology to marketing, from clinical to mechanistic studies, including in vitro and in vivo studies on common (synthetic cannabinoids and cathinones) and less common (2,4-DNP and "hippy crack") psychoactive substances.As a result, the present Research Topic brings together 16 papers (9 original articles and 7 reviews) of excellent quality and broad impact which cover the main classes of NPS and explore further their toxicology and pharmacology, with a particular emphasis given to the role of NPS in modulating brain neurotransmission and behavior.According to the last World Drug Report 2018 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.18.XI.9), by the end of 2017 synthetic cannabinoids and synthetic cathinones represented the largest class of NPS, with 251 and 148 compounds detected, respectively.This Research Topic includes 2 original articles on synthetic cannabinoids, 2 original articles on synthetic cathinones, and 2 reviews summarizing the acute and chronic effects of these two classes of NPS. Specifically, Elmore and Baumann from the Designer Drug Research Unit of NIDA-NIH (Baltimore, USA) used the popular synthetic cannabinoid JWH-018 to expand the current knowledge on the relationship between repeated use of synthetic cannabinoids and serotonergic dysregulation.Their study shows that repeated treatment with JWH-018 induces tolerance to its hypothermic and cataleptic effects and produces transient increases in serotonin 5-HT 1A receptor responsiveness without affecting 5-HT 2A receptor responsiveness in male rats.To provide further insights on the mechanisms of action underlying the stimulant effects of synthetic cannabinoids, a multidisciplinary Italian study coordinated by Matteo Marti from the University of Ferrara (Italy), showed that the naphthoylindole compound JWH-018 and the unrelated adamantylindazole AKB48 induced psychostimulant effects in male mice through mechanisms mediated by both cannabinoid CB 1 and dopamine receptors and likely facilitated the release of ventral striatal dopamine without affecting the activity of the dopamine transporter (DAT) (Ossato et al.).
Source: Frontiers in Psychiatry
Authors: Liana Fattore, Aviv M. Weinstein
Institutions: National Research Council, Ariel University
Language: English
Subfield: Toxicology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $2,950
OpenAlex ID: W2921914271