Neurotoxicity and Neuropharmacology of amphetamine derivatives

For many years our research group has been carrying out studies about the neuropharmacological effects of classical amphetamine derivatives such as methamphetamine or MDMA (also known as “ecstasy”). However, the illicit drug market has change remarkably in the last decade and a huge number of new psychoactive substances (NPS), a new term used to describe analogues of traditionally abused drugs, have appeared and some of them marketed and labelled as “legal highs”, “bath salts” or “research chemicals”. Information about long-term adverse effects, risks and/or mechanism of action are still unknown or very limited. Thus, our research group is currently focused on the addictive properties as well as the mechanism of action involved in the rewarding and reinforcing effects of new designer drugs, especially synthetic cathinones, one of the most prevalent and abused group of NPS. On the other hand, previous drug history (pre-exposure to different drugs of abuse), vulnerability to drug abuse or new addiction treatments are also studies that we have been and are currently performing with promising results.

Our innovative studies has let us not only to publish several research papers on different international journals but also to create new partners worldwide. For example, our research group has been collaborating, and still does, with several international research institutions such as American University of Washington (Washington D.C., USA), Karolinska Institutet (Stockholm, Sweeden) University of Graz (Graz, Austria), Università degli Studi di Cagliari (Cagliari, Italy) and Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico D.F, Mexico). Moreover, we also work side by side with many others national research institutions such as Parc de Recerca Biomedica de Barcelona (PRBB), Universitat de Valencia or Institut Química de Sàrria (IQS), among others.