Substance-Induced Psychoses: An Updated Literature Review

Background: On the current psychopharmacological panorama, the variety of substances able to provoke an episode of acute psychosis is rapidly increasing. Such psychotic episodes are classified according to the major category of symptoms: positive, negative, or cognitive psychotic episodes. On one hand, the abuse of methamphetamines, cannabis, and cocaine plays a big role in increasing the incidence of episodes resembling a psychotic disorder. On the other hand, the progress in terms of pharmacodynamics knowledge has led to the synthesis of new drugs, such as cannabinoids and cathinone's, which have rapidly entered into the common pool of abusers' habits. Regarding these newly synthesized substances of abuse, further clinical studies are needed to understand their psychogenic properties. The topic of this review is complicated due to the frequent abuse of psychotomimetic drugs by patients affected by psychotic disorders, a fact that makes it extremely difficult to distinguish between an induced psychosis and a re-exacerbation of a previously diagnosed disorder.Methods: The present narrative review summarizes results from clinical studies, thus investigating the psychotogenic properties of abused substances and the psychotic symptoms they can give rise to. It also discusses the association between substance abuse and psychosis, especially with regards to the differential diagnosis between a primary vs. a substance-induced psychotic disorder.Findings: Our findings support the theory that psychosis due to substance abuse is commonly observed in clinical practice. The propensity to develop psychosis seems to be a function of the severity of use and addiction. Of note, from a phenomenological point of view, it is possible to identify some elements that may help clinicians involved in differential diagnoses between primary and substance-induced psychoses. There remains a striking paucity of information on the outcomes, treatments, and best practices of substance-induced psychotic episodes.

Synthesis and Antinociceptive activity of Newly Modified Amine analogs of Phencyclidine in Mice

Background: Phencyclidine (PCP, I) and its substituted analogs are significant and broadly abused psychotomimetic drugs that affect the central nervous system. They show many pharmacological properties due to the presence of specific receptors in the brain. Aim and Objective: Methyl group, despite strong electron-donating and characters of dipole moments, were placed on various positions of phenyl and amine moieties of Phencyclidine along with the substitution of benzylamine, piperazine, and aniline derivatives in place of piperidine ring of Phencyclidine to create novel compounds of the core with analgesic properties. Material and methods: For evaluation of the Analgesic activities of newly synthesized compounds, they were screened by tests of tail immersion (thermal) and formalin (chemical) pains. The obtained data with the control and PCP groups were compared too. Results: The outcomes indicated that some new compounds have more antinociceptive effects than PCP in tail immersion and formalin tests. In the tail immersion test, the methyl piperazine analog (III) shows more efficacy than others. In the formalin test, none of the compounds are as effective as phencyclidine at the earliest time-point, but compounds IV and V do show more effective during the second stage of formalin pain. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the methyl-piperazine analog of phencyclidine was the best candidate to decrease acute thermal and benzylamine derivatives were suitable candidates to reduce chemical pains.