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Neuroscience Letters - Behavioral changes and brain energy metabolism dysfunction in rats treated with methamphetamine or dextroamphetamine

Gustavo Feier, Samira Valvassori, Jessica Lopes-Borges, Roger Varela, Daniele Bavaresco, Giselli Scaini, Meline Morais, Mônica Levy Andersen, Emilio Streck e João Quevedo

Studies have demonstrated that AMPHs produce long-term damage to the brain dopaminergic, serotoninergic and glutamatergic regions. Prefrontal cortex, amygdala, hippocampus and striatum appear to be involved in the toxicity and behavioral changes induced by AMPHs. A single dose of AMPH causes mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in rat brain. The goal of the present study was thus to investigate the potency of two amphetamines, dextroamphetamine (d-AMPH) and methamphetamine (m-AMPH), on the behaviour and energetic dysfunction in the brain of rats. d-AMPH and m-AMPH increased the crossing and rearing behaviours. The numbers of visits to the centre were increased by d-AMPH and m-AMPH only at 2mg/kg. Likewise, at a high dose (2mg/kg), the injection of m-AMPH increased the amount of sniffing. The AMPHs significantly decreased the activities of Krebs cycle enzymes (citrate synthase and succinate dehydrogenase) and mitochondrial respiratory chain complexes (I, II, III, IV); nevertheless, this effect varied depending on the brain region evaluated. In summary, this study demonstrated that at high doses, m-AMPH, increased stereotyped (sniffing) behaviour in rats, but d-AMPH did not. However, this study shows that d-AMPH and m-AMPH seem to have similar effects on the brains energetic metabolism.

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