Acute opioid administration induces hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal activation and is mediated by genetic variation in interleukin (Il)1B.

There is a complex relationship between drug dependence and stress, with alcohol and other drugs of abuse both relieving stress and potentially inducing physiological stress responses in the user. Opioid drugs have been shown to modulate hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) activity in animal models and individual response to this modulation may play a role in continuation of drug use. Healthy young Caucasian adults were administered a single dose of immediate release oxycodone (20mg, n=30) or assigned to a control group (n=19) that was not administered the drug.

Antidepressant-like effects of ecstasy in subjects with a predisposition to depression.

Introduction: Positive effects of ecstasy on mood and self-esteem due to increased synaptic serotonin levels may indicate a potential antidepressant-like action. This effect may be more prominent in subjects with a pre-existing mood disturbance who may use ecstasy more frequently as a 'self-medication'. This study compared depressive symptoms and the immediate effects of ecstasy on mood in subjects with (WP) and without (NP) a predisposition to depression.

Antidepressant-like effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine in an animal model of depression.

Increased synaptic serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) levels may underlie antidepressant-like effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) that may be more prominent in subjects with mood disturbance. The Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) strain is an important animal model of depression. These rats are more immobile in the forced swimming test (FST), and their immobility is reversed by known antidepressants after prolonged administration.

Increased effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) in a rat model of depression.

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is associated with increases in core body temperature (T(C)) and depressive mood states in users. Flinders Sensitive Line (FSL) rats represent a rat model of depression originally bred from Sprague-Dawley (SD) rats. They are more sensitive to both muscarinic and serotonergic agonists and have altered thermoregulatory responses to various drugs.