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Behavioral evidence for the abuse potential of the novel synthetic cathinone alpha-pyrrolidinopentiothiophenone (PVT) in rodents

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Abstract

Rationale

Synthetic cathinones are chemical derivatives of cathinone that are pharmacologically similar to cocaine and methamphetamine. Recently, abuse of synthetic cathinones among young people has increased.

Objectives

The present study aimed to characterize the behavioral effects of alpha-pyrrolidinopentiothiophenone (PVT), an analog of alpha-pyrrolidinovalerophenone and second-generation synthetic cathinone, as well as to evaluate its abuse potential, using conditioned place preference, intravenous self-administration (SA), and drug discrimination paradigms in rodent models.

Results

Alpha-PVT produced a significant place preference in mice at doses of 10, 30, and 50 mg/kg. In the SA experiment, alpha-PVT (0.1, 0.3, and 1.0 mg/kg/infusion) produced an inverted U-shaped dose-effect curve in rats. Under a progressive ratio schedule of reinforcement, there appeared to be a positive relationship between alpha-PVT dose and the breakpoints for alpha-PVT reinforcement. Additionally, alpha-PVT fully substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of both cocaine and methamphetamine in rats.

Conclusions

Our results indicate that alpha-PVT has rewarding and reinforcing effects and shares the interoceptive effects of cocaine and methamphetamine. To the best of our knowledge, the present study is the first to show that alpha-PVT has reinforcing properties when delivered on its own, which suggests possible abuse liability in humans.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a grant (14182MFDS979) from Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in 2016 and Korea Institute of Toxicology (KK-1610-03).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Uimyung Research Institute for Neuroscience, School of Pharmacy, Sahmyook University, 26-21 Kongreung-2-dong, Hwarangro-815 Nowon-gu, Seoul, 01795, Republic of Korea

    Jae Hoon Cheong & Hee Jin Kim

  2. Research Center for Safety Pharmacology, Korea Institute of Toxicology, Daejeon, 34114, Republic of Korea

    Mee Jung Choi, Joung-Wook Seo & Seong Shoon Yoon

  3. Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Republic of Korea

    Choon-Gon Jang

  4. Laboratory of Medicinal Chemistry, School of Pharmacy, Kyung Hee University, Seoul, 02447, Republic of Korea

    Yong Sup Lee

  5. College of Pharmacy, Keimyung University, 1095 Dalgubeoldaero, Dalseo-gu, Daegu, 42601, Republic of Korea

    Sooyeun Lee

  6. Human and Environmental Toxicology, University of Science and Technology, 217 Gajeong-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, 34113, Republic of Korea

    Seong Shoon Yoon

Authors
  1. Jae Hoon Cheong
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  2. Mee Jung Choi
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  3. Choon-Gon Jang
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  4. Yong Sup Lee
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  5. Sooyeun Lee
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seong Shoon Yoon.

Ethics declarations

The experimental procedures were approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee of the Korea Institute of Toxicology and met the requirements of the National Institutes of Health Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (NIH No. 85–23, rev. 1985).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Jae Hoon Cheong and Mee Jung Choi have contributed equally to this work.

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Cheong, J.H., Choi, M.J., Jang, CG. et al. Behavioral evidence for the abuse potential of the novel synthetic cathinone alpha-pyrrolidinopentiothiophenone (PVT) in rodents. Psychopharmacology 234, 857–867 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4526-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-017-4526-8

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