Citation

O'Malley KY, Medina-Kirchner C. Int. J. Legal Med. 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Neuropsychopharmacology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Columbia University, 1160 Amsterdam Ave, Schermerhorn Hall, Suite 510, New York, NY, 10027, USA.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00414-019-02165-3

PMID

31734724

Abstract

We read with interest the article by De-Giogio et al. [1] investigating the acute and repeated administration of 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV) on aggressive responding in mice. This is an important issue because MDPV is one of the synthetic cathinones purportedly found in “bath salts,” products that are deceptively sold for their psychoactive effects. However, our enthusiasm was dampened because the manuscript’s conclusions extend beyond the present data and are inconsistent with human laboratory data investigating synthetic cathinones. For example, the manuscript concludes that its results “are suggestive that human MDPV intake could be a problem for public health and the criminal justice system.” This assertion is baseless and reckless. As a result, we feel few issues that warrant further discussion.

The MDPV dose (10 mg/kg) that produced aggression on all three tasks—as operationally defined by the investigators—is not comparable with doses used by humans ...

Language: en