Four Novel Synthetic Tryptamine Analogs Induce Head-Twitch Responses and Increase 5-HTR2a in the Prefrontal Cortex in Mice

Tryptamines are monoamine alkaloids with hallucinogenic properties and are widely abused worldwide. To hasten the regulations of novel substances and predict their abuse potential, we designed and synthesized four novel synthetic tryptamine analogs: Pyrrolidino tryptamine hydrochloride (PYT HCl), Piperidino tryptamine hydrochloride (PIT HCl), N,N-dibutyl tryptamine hydrochloride (DBT HCl), and 2-Methyl tryptamine hydrochloride (2-MT HCl). Then, we evaluated their rewarding and reinforcing effects using the conditioned place preference (CPP) and self-administration (SA) paradigms. We conducted an open field test (OFT) to deter-mine the effects of the novel compounds on locomotor activity. A head-twitch response (HTR) was also performed to characterize their hallucinogenic properties. Lastly, we examined the effects of the compounds on 5-HTR1a and 5-HTR2a in the prefrontal cortex using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) assay. None of the compounds induced CPP in mice or initiated SA in rats. PYT HCl and PIT HCl reduced the locomotor activity and elevated the 5-HTR1a mRNA levels in mice. Acute and repeated treatment with the novel tryptamines elicited HTR in mice. Furthermore, a drug challenge involving a 7-day abstinence from drug use produced higher HTR than acute and repeated treatments. Both the acute treatment and drug challenge increased the 5-HTR2a mRNA levels. Ketanserin blocked the induced HTR. Taken together, the findings suggest that PYT HCl, PIT HCl, DBT HCl, and 2-MT HCl produce hallucinogenic effects via 5-HTR2a stimulation, but may have low abuse potential.

The Prevalence of Hematuria and Proteinuria in School Children in Seoul

BACKGROUND: Since 1998, mass urinary screening tests have been conducted in Korean school children. We analyzed the urinary screening test data gathered from the metropolitan city, Seoul, to identify the prevalence of persistent urine abnormalities. METHODS: The students were tested for hematuria and/or proteinuria using dipstick urinalysis. If the results were positive, the students were asked to visit a medical clinic to recheck urinalysis and in report their results. RESULTS: Among 1,337,210 students, who were screened with initial urinalysis, 10,871 students (proteinuria, 3,626 (0.27%); hematuria, 7,634 (0.57%); both, 389) were recommended to undergo second urinalysis in which 8,819 students (81.1%) did. Among them, 851 had persistent proteinuria and 2,618 had persistent hematuria. The results of the first urinalysis were scored based on the severity of hematuria and proteinuria from +1 to +4. Among all students 24.7% of the students who scored +1 and 40.4% who scored +3 proteinuria on the first test had persistent proteinuria, and 56.4% with both proteinuria and hematuria had persistent proteinuria on the second test. For hematuria, the more positive in the first test showed more prevalence of persistent hematuria. And 61.6% of students with both proteinuria and hematuia had persistent hematuria on the second test. CONCLUSION: The presence of both hematuria and proteinuria seemed to be a powerful predictor for persistent abnormal urine finding. And the more positive response in the first test was related to persistent abnormal finding. Therefore we should follow up closely for those students with positive findings.