Behavioral characterization of alpha-ethyltryptamine, a tryptamine derivative with MDMA-like properties in rats. Psychopharmacology 113

Abstract. Several reports have speculated that the tryptamine-derived drug alpha-ethyltryptamine (AET) may have effects similar to those of the amphetamine-derived drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Indeed, the US Drug Enforcement Adminis-tration has recently placed AET on the Schedule I list because of its putative similarity to MDMA. The Behav-ioral Pattern Monitor, which quantifies locomotor and investigatory esponses of rats, was used to characterize the effects of AET in a paradigm that distinguishes be-tween the effects of traditional hallucinogens, am-phetamine-like stimulants, d MDMA-like drugs. First, a dose-response tudy revealed that all doses of AET tested (5, 10, 20 mg/kg) significantly increased locomotor activity. Locomotor hyperactivity is produced by MD-MA or amphetamine-like stimulants, but not by classical hallucinogens, such as LSD or mescaline. Additionally, AET significantly decreased measures of investigatory behavior. Similar decreases occur with MDMA or hallu-cinogen administration, but not with amphetamine-like stimulant administration. Second, as with MDMA, the locomotor hyperactivity induced by AET was attenuated by pretreatment (10mg/kg) with the serotonin reuptake inhibitor fluoxetine. Thus, AET, a tryptamine-derived drug, appears to produce an MDMA-like profile of be-havioral changes by virtue of releasing presynaptic sero-tonin