Background Methamphetamine is a psychomotor stimulant with abuse liability and a substrate for catecholamine uptake transporters. Acute methamphetamine elevates extracellular dopamine, which in the midbrain can activate D2 autoreceptors to increase a G-protein gated inwardly rectifying potassium (GIRK) conductance that inhibits dopamine neuron firing. These studies examined the neurophysiological consequences of methamphetamine self-administration on GIRK channel-mediated currents in dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area. Methods Male DBA/2J mice were trained to self-administer intravenous methamphetamine. A dose response was conducted as well as extinction and cue-induced reinstatement. In a second study, after at least 2 weeks of stable self-administration of methamphetamine, electrophysiological brain slice recordings were conducted on dopamine neurons from self-administering and control mice. Results In the first experiment, ad libitum-fed, nonfood-trained mice exhibited a significant increase in intake and locomotion following self-administration as the concentration of methamphetamine per infusion was increased (0.0015–0.15 mg/kg/infusion). Mice exhibited extinction in responding and cue-induced reinstatement. In the second experiment, dopamine cells in both the substantia nigra and ventral tegmental area from adult mice with a history of methamphetamine self-administration exhibited significantly smaller D2 and GABAB receptor-mediated currents compared with control mice, regardless of whether their daily self-administration sessions had been 1 or 4 hours. Interestingly, the effects of methamphetamine self-administration were not present when intracellular calcium was chelated by including BAPTA in the recording pipette. Conclusions Our results suggest that methamphetamine self-administration decreases GIRK channel-mediated currents in dopaminergic neurons and that this effect may be calcium dependent.

Osteoporosis is a medical condition that affects millions of men and women. People with this condition have low bone mass, which places them at increased risk for bone fracture after minor trauma. The surgeries and treatments required to repair and heal bone fractures involve long recovery periods and can be expensive. Because osteoporosis occurs frequently in the elderly, the financial burden it places on society is likely to be large. In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration has approved several drugs for use in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. However, all of the currently available agents have severe side effects that limit their efficacy and underscore the urgent need for new treatment options. One promising approach is the development of alternative (nonpharmaceutical) strategies for bone maintenance, as well as for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. This review examines the currently available nonpharmaceutical alternatives that have been evaluated in in vitro and in vivo studies. Certain plants from the following families have shown the greatest benefits on bone: Alliceae, Asteraceae, Thecaceae, Fabaceae, Oleaceae, Rosaceae, Ranunculaceae, Vitaceae, Zingiberaceae. The present review discusses the most promising findings from studies of these plant families.

Women drastically loose bone during and after menopause leading to osteoporosis, a disease characterized by low bone mass increasing the risk of fractures with minor trauma. Existing therapies mainly reduce bone resorption, however, all existing drugs have severe side effects. Recently, the focus is to identify alternative medicines that can prevent and treat osteoporosis with minimal or no side effects. We used Cissus quadrangularis (CQ), a medicinal herb, to determine its effects on bone loss after ovariectomy in C57BL/6 mice. Two-month old mice were either sham operated or ovariectomized and fed CQ diet. After eleven weeks, mice were sacrificed and the long bones scanned using pQCT and μCT. In the distal femoral metaphysis, femoral diaphysis, and proximal tibia, control mice had decreased cancellous and cortical bone, while CQ-fed mice showed no significant differences in the trabecular number, thickness, and connectivity density, between Sham and OVX mice, except for cortical bone mineral content in the proximal tibia. There were no changes in the bone at the tibio-fibular junction between groups. We conclude that CQ effectively inhibited bone loss in the cancellous and cortical bones of femur and proximal tibia in these mice.

Methamphetamine (METH) is a psychostimulant that exhibits significant abuse potential. Although METH addiction is a major health and societal concern, no drug is currently approved for its therapeutic management. METH activates the central dopaminergic “reward” circuitry, and with repeated use increases levels of the neuromodulatory peptide neurotensin in the nucleus accumbens and ventral tegmental area. Previous studies in rats suggest that neurotensin agonism decreases METH self-administration, but these studies did not examine the effect of neurotensin agonism on the pattern of self-administration or open field locomotion. In our studies, we established intravenous METH self-administration in male, DBA/2J mice (fixed ratio 3, 2 hr sessions) and examined the effect of pretreatment with the NTS1 receptor agonist PD149163 on METH self-administration behavior. Locomotion following PD149163 was also measured up to 2 hours after injection on a rotarod and in an open field. Pretreatment with PD149163 (0.05 and 0.10 mg/kg, s.c.) significantly decreased METH self-administration. The pattern of responding suggested that PD149163 decreased motivation to self-administer METH initially in the session with more normal intake in the second hour of access. Voluntary movement in the open-field was significantly decreased by both 0.05 and 0.10 mg/kg (s.c.) PD149163 from 10–120 minutes after injection, but rotarod performance suggested that PD149163 did not cause frank sedation. These results suggest that a systemically delivered NTS1 receptor agonist decreases METH self-administration in mice. The pattern of self-administration suggests that PD149163 may acutely decrease motivation to self-administer METH before the drug is experienced, but cannot rule out that depression of voluntary movement plays a role in the decreased self-administration.