Role of Organic Cation Transporter 3 and Plasma Membrane Monoamine Transporter in the Rewarding Properties and Locomotor Sensitizing Effects of Amphetamine in Male andFemale Mice

A lack of effective treatment and sex-based disparities in psychostimulant addiction and overdose warrant further investigation into mechanisms underlying the abuse-related effects of amphetamine-like stimulants. Uptake-2 transporters such as organic cation transporter 3 (OCT3) and plasma membrane monoamine transporter (PMAT), lesser studied potential targets for the actions of stimulant drugs, are known to play a role in monoaminergic neurotransmission. Our goal was to examine the roles of OCT3 and PMAT in mediating amphetamine (1 mg/kg)-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) and sensitization to its locomotor stimulant effects, in males and females, using pharmacological, decynium-22 (D22; 0.1 mg/kg, a blocker of OCT3 and PMAT) and genetic (constitutive OCT3 and PMAT knockout (−/−) mice) approaches. Our results show that OCT3 is necessary for the development of CPP to amphetamine in males, whereas in females, PMAT is necessary for the ability of D22 to prevent the development of CPP to amphetamine. Both OCT3 and PMAT appear to be important for development of sensitization to the locomotor stimulant effect of amphetamine in females, and PMAT in males. Taken together, these findings support an important, sex-dependent role of OCT3 and PMAT in the rewarding and locomotor stimulant effects of amphetamine.

Seized Ecstasy Pills: Infrared Spectra and Image Datasets

According to the World Drug Report 2020, cocaine and ecstasy are the most consumed stimulant drugs, with 19 and 27 million estimated users in 2018. In this context, large efforts are being made to design fast and cost-effective analytical methods to track and monitor the distribution networks of these synthetic drugs. Here, we share two datasets of ecstasy pills seized in the northeast of Switzerland between 2010 and 2011. The first contains 621 forensic-grade images of pills, while the second one consists of 486 mid-infrared (mIR) spectra. While both sets are not covering the same seizure, both provide high-quality data with orthogonal information to evaluate clustering and dimension reduction methods.

Psychostimulants – a boon or bane during examinations

Psychostimulants or neuroenhancers have been used by students to increase their performance in pursuit for higher grades. Our study aimed to assess the effect of stimulants on test anxiety and psychological distress in medical students. The students were approached with self-administered questionnaire for Test Anxiety, Psychological Distress and use of stimulants during the period of examinations. The stimulants were categorized according to their average caffeine content into tea or qahwa, instant coffee and energy drinks with two other categories that is stimulant drugs use and no stimulant use. The respondents were female medical students from study year 1-5. About 84% students used stimulants, of which maximum were coffee users 64.6% followed by tea or qahwa 38.6%, energy drinks 13.86% and stimulant drugs 7.8%. The percentage of students taking stimulant drugs showed an increasing trend from year 1 (3.96%) to year 5 (11.27%) while those who did not use any type of stimulant decreased from year1 to year 5. The mean test anxiety and mean psychological distress was highest for energy drink users followed by stimulant drug users. Energy drink was positive correlated with test anxiety with statistical significance indicating the detrimental effect of high concentration of caffeine in it. Test anxiety and psychological distress was higher in students using stimulants compared those who did not. Stimulants though believed to enhance performance and alertness, may actually be disadvantageous when used in higher doses as it increases test anxiety and psychological distress which may decrease performance.