Methamphetamine, morphine, and their combination: acute changes in striatal dopaminergic transmission evaluated by microdialysis in awake rats.

The co-administration of methamphetamine (METH) and MOR (MOR)-like compounds is becoming increasingly popular among drug abusers. Recently, it was demonstrated that rats would self-inject METH-heroin combination and that this combination produced a greater rewarding effect than the identical doses of METH alone and it was further suggested that enhanced reward might underlie the popularity of this combination. However, there is null information on the effects of the MOR-METH combination on striatal dopaminergic transmission. In the present article, in vivo brain microdialysis was used to examine the effects of two METH doses (1 and 5 mg/kg, i.p.; [METH1: hyperlocomotion-inducing] and [METH5: stereotypy-inducing], respectively) and MOR (10 mg/kg, i.p. [MOR10]) either alone or in combination on dopamine (DA) and 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DOPAC) release in caudate putamen (CPu) in freely moving rats. METH1 evoked a transient threefold increase in DA overflow in only one-third of dosed rats. On the contrary, METH5 elicited a 11-fold increase in the extracellular DA levels 30 min after dosing and stayed significantly (P < 0.05) above control levels up to 1.5 h. On the other hand, MOR10 did not significantly change DA extracellular levels. MOR10-METH1 combination prolonged DA outflow for 1 h in all rats dosed without changing peak effect compared to METH1. On the other hand, MOR10-METH5 combination did not change the peak effect nor the DA outflow profile compared to METH5 alone. Consistently, there is a concentration-dependent decrease in DOPAC efflux evoked by METH: METH1 evoked a smaller decrease in DOPAC outflow showing a tendency for returning to basal values whereas METH5 kept DOPAC extracellular levels reduced throughout the experiment. Again, MOR10 did not significantly change DOPAC extracellular levels. MOR delayed the onset without changing METH effect on the DOPAC output. These findings provide suggestive evidence that MOR potentiated the increase in extracellular DA levels induced by a low dose of METH. Thus, this combination yields a profile of action that might underlie the reinforcing properties sought by drug addicts.

Single or multiple injections of methamphetamine increased dopamine turnover but did not decrease tyrosine hydroxylase levels or cleave caspase-3 in caudate-putamen.

Methamphetamine (METH), leading to striatal dopamine (DA) nerve terminal toxicity in mammals, is also thought to induce apoptosis of striatal neurons in rodents. We investigated the acute effects induced by multiple injections of METH (4 x 5 mg/kg, i.p.) at 2-h intervals or a single injection of METH (20 mg/kg, i.p.) on terminal dopaminergic toxicity markers, including DA levels, DA turnover, and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) immunoreactivity in rat caudate-putamen (CPu). We further investigated whether both treatment paradigms would change Bax and activate caspase-3 expression, thus triggering striatal apoptotic mitochondria-dependent biochemical cascades. The first injection of METH (5 mg/kg, i.p.) produced a significant release of DA that peaked 30 min and stayed above control levels up to 1.5 h within CPu. In another set of experiments, rats were killed 1 and 24 h following the last injection, for tissue DA and metabolite content measurement and Western blot analysis (24 h). Multiple doses induced DA depletion and increased turnover at both endpoints. Single-dose METH reproduced these effects at 24 h; however, turnover was significantly higher than that evoked by the multiple doses at 24 h. Although both paradigms evoked similar DA depletion, however, none of the dosing regimens induced changes in TH expression at 24 h. The former paradigm produced an increase in Bax expression in CPu not sufficient to induce cleavage of caspase-3 proenzyme at 24 h. This study suggests that both paradigm induced changes in striatal dopaminergic markers that are independent of terminal degeneration and striatal apoptotic mitochondria-dependent caspase-3 driven cascade within 24 h.