Neurotoxicity Of Synthetic Cannabinoids JWH-081 And JWH-210

These synthetic cannabinoids act directly at cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 receptors as does Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC) found in marijuana, but have different chemical structures unrelated to Δ9-THC, different metabolism, and often greater toxicity (Fantegrossi et al., 2014). Discriminative stimulus effects were tested in rats trained to discriminate Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (3 mg/kg, 30-min pretreatment). 5F-MDMB-PINACA (also known as 5F-ADB, 5F-ADB-PINACA), MDMB-CHIMICA, MDMB-FUBINACA, ADB-FUBINACA, and AMB-FUBINACA (also known as FUB-AMB, MMB-FUBINACA) were tested for in vivo cannabinoid-like effects to assess their abuse liabilit

One recent study has looked at other mechanisms of action in some of the older synthetic cannabinoids and reported that some produced varying amounts of activity at sites which are related to cardiotoxicity and heart disease (Wiley et al., 2016


In the present study, we performed various methods based on animal behavioral testing including FOB test for general behavioral observation, rotarod test, locomotor activity test for motor function evaluation, and water-maze test for learning/memory evaluation. Known for its stability and consistent composition, this compound is frequently utilized by professionals seeking reliable materials for laboratory-based analytical studies. In this study, histopathological evaluation was performed to confirm the possibility of neurotoxicity of the tested substances by hematoxylin and eosin staining method from collected brain samples. In the present study, we evaluated the neurotoxicity of two synthetic cannabinoids (JWH-081 and JWH-210) through observation of various behavioral changes and analysis of histopathological changes using experimental mice with various doses (0.1, 1, 5 mg/kg). Selecting powder JWH-210 demands careful evaluation of purity, legality, and supplier credibility. Prices for research-grade JWH-210 vary significantly based on quantity, purity, and vendor complianc


LC separates the urine or blood sample and QTOF-MS provides high-resolution and accurate mass measurements for precise identification and structural elucidation of compounds. The LC-QTOF-MS method offers a more comprehensive and sensitive approach for drug detection, covering hundreds of recreational drugs, including NPS. Besides increasing the temperature to enlarge the drug aerolisation and bioavailability, one can elevate the flow rate of air through the e-cigarette and/or add a diluent . Of all e-cigarette users registered at this forum, 7.8 % vaped SCRAs . About 15 % of individuals registered at forums for drug users such as erowid.org who vaped cannabis have also vaped SRCAs. SCRAs belong, together with synthetic opioids, cathinones, amphetamines and hallucinogens to the new psychoactive substances (NPS) that are currently developed at high speed.
Data availabili

The % peak area abundance ratio of metabolites detected in the urine samples are often affected by numerous factors such as drug intake behaviour (intake route, amount of drug and intake frequency), time from last drug intake and metabolic stabilit


Tremors were observed in mice 30 minutes following 1 mg/kg AMB-FUBINACA in the present study. Pretreatment times and dose ranges for the drug discrimination assay were selected based on the time of peak depression in the locomotor activity assay in mice. Average potency of the discriminative stimulus effects of early compounds was 0.81±0.17 mg/kg (Gatch et al., 2014), whereas the potency of a recent set was 0.09±0.03 mg/kg (Gatch et al., 2018), and the potency of the current set is 0.05±0.01 mg/kg. Short-onset, short-acting compounds have a greater abuse liability, and long-acting compounds pose problems of long-acting adverse effects and interactions with other drugs. The duration of action of the synthetic cannabinoids tested using the 8-h protocol have varied widely, with some producing a duration of action no longer than 1 h, others producing a duration of action between 1–2 h, and others lasting more than 2 h. There seems to be a trend of newer synthetic cannabinoids being more potent than earlier compound


All of the compounds tested in the present study depressed locomotor activity as is typical for other synthetic cannabinoids (see review by Wiley et al., 2017). Average horizontal activity counts/10 min as a function of time (10 min bins) and dose. Depressant effects of 1.33 mg/kg were observed within 10 min following administration and peak depressant effects were 4F ADB observed between 0–30 min. Duration of the locomotor depression increased over dose from 30 min following 0.1 mg/kg to 2.5 h following 1 mg/k

4. Drugs
In general, the locomotor depressant and discriminative stimulus effects have been observed at doses that do not produce adverse effects, although tremors were observed upon handling in mice that received JWH-210 (Gatch et al., 2016), and 5F-AMB produced sustained vocalization and convulsions in rats (Gatch et al., 2018). All of the synthetic cannabinoids tested in the present study fully substituted for the discriminative stimulus effects of Δ9-THC. Subsequently, a one-way analysis of variance was conducted on horizontal activity counts for the 30-min period of maximal effect, and planned comparisons were conducted for each dose against the vehicle control using single degree-of-freedom F tests. A two-way analysis of variance, with dose as a between groups factor and time as a within subject factor, was conducted on horizontal activity counts/10 min interval. Locomotor activity in mice was tested to screen for locomotor depressant effects and to identify behaviorally-active dose ranges and times of peak effect. Previous studies have demonstrated that these compounds have chemical structures similar to synthetic cannabinoids known to have substantial abuse liability and act at the CB1 receptor.
Michael B Gatch
Substantial depressant effects were observed within the first 10 min, and maximal depression was observed between 0–30 min following administration. Tremors were observed 30 minutes following 1 mg/kg AMB-FUBINACA in 3 of 8 mice (data not shown). Substantial depressant effects were observed within the first 10 min, and maximal depression was observed between 10–40 min and lasted up to 2.5 to 3 h at the 4F ADB highest dose tested (0.5 mg/kg).
Figure 1.
There is indication that at least some of the first-generation synthetic cannabinoids act at receptors other than cannabinoid CB1 and CB2 (Wiley et al., 2016), and a compound from the present study, 5F-MDMB-PINACA, was found to activate midbrain dopamine neurons, but not serotonin neurons (Asaoka et al., 2016). As previously mentioned, all of the compounds tested in the present study (MDMB-PINACA, MDMB-CHMICA, MDMB-FUBINACA, ADB-FUBINACA, and AMB-FUBINACA) act as agonists at CB1 receptors (Banister et al., 2015, 2016; Gamage et al., 2018), which suggests these compounds will produce Δ9-THC-like effects, including abuse liability. Tremors were not observed following AMB-FUBINACA during the drug discrimination study, but the maximum dose tested was only 0.1 mg/kg, which is 10-fold lower than the dose that produced tremors in the mic