ABSTRACT
Foxy or Methoxy Foxy (5-methoxy-N,N-di(iso)propyltryptamine hydrochloride; 5-MeO-DIPT) is rapidly gaining popularity among recreational users as a hallucinogenic "designer drug." Unfortunately, much remain unknown about the consequences of its use on neuropsychological development or behavior. During one of two adolescent periods, the rats were given repeated injections of 5 mg/kg or 20 mg/kg of 5-MeO-DIPT or a corresponding volume of isotonic saline. After the animals reached adulthood, they were trained and tested on a number of tasks designed to assess the impact of 5-MeO-DIPT, if any, on spatial memory, presumably involving declarative memory systems as well as a nonspatial task that is considered sensitive to disruptions in nondeclarative memory. Both the 5-MeO-DIPT- and saline-treated rats were able to master spatial navigation tests where the task included a single goal location and all groups performed comparably on these phases of training and testing. Regardless of exposure level during adolescence, the performance of the drug-treated rats was markedly inferior to that of the control animals on a task where the goal was moved to a new location and on a response learning task, suggesting a lack of flexibility in adapting their responses to changing task demands. Detected reductions in serotonin activity in the forebrain similar to the effects of extensively investigated compounds such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), suggest that 5-MeO-DIPT may produce its adverse effects by compromising serotonergic systems in the brain.
Subject(s)
5-Methoxytryptamine/analogs & derivatives , Cognition Disorders/chemically induced , Hallucinogens/adverse effects , 5-Methoxytryptamine/adverse effects , Age Factors , Animals , Male , Maze Learning/drug effects , Prosencephalon/drug effects , Prosencephalon/metabolism , Rats , Rats, Long-Evans , Rotarod Performance Test , Serotonin/metabolism , Spatial Behavior/drug effectsABSTRACT
The hallucinogenic "designer drug" known as Foxy or Methoxy Foxy and formally know as 5-Methoxy-N,N-di(iso)propyltryptamine hydrochloride (5-MeO-DIPT) is rapidly gaining popularity among recreational users. However, little is known about the consequences of its use on neuropsychological development or behavior. During one of two adolescent periods, the rats were given repeated injections of either saline or 5 mg/kg of 5-MeO-DIPT. Once the animals reached 80 days of age, they were trained and tested on a number of tasks designed to assess the effects of 5-MeO-DIPT, if any, on memory tasks with spatial components that presumably involve declarative memory systems and on a nonspatial task that is considered sensitive to disruptions in nondeclarative memory. With one exception, both the 5-MeO-DIPT- and saline-treated rats were able to master the spatial navigation tests at comparable rates. However, the performance of the drug-treated rats was markedly inferior to that of the control animals on a response-learning task, suggesting a lack of flexibility in adapting their responses to changing task demands. This could indicate reductions in serotonin activity in the forebrain similar to the effects of studied drugs such as methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), suggesting 5-MeO-DIPT may act as a toxin compromising serotoninergic systems in the brain.
