{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,8]],"date-time":"2026-06-08T15:35:28Z","timestamp":1780932928957,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":45,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,28]],"date-time":"2021-01-28T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1611792000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100004587","name":"Instituto de Salud Carlos III","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["FIS PI14\/00715, FIS PI17\/01962, RD16\/0017\/0003,"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["FIS PI14\/00715, FIS PI17\/01962, RD16\/0017\/0003,"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100004587","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]},{"name":"AGAUR Gencat Suport Grups de Recerca","award":["2017 SGR 316"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2017 SGR 316"]}]},{"name":"Ministerio de Sanidad, Pol\u00edtica Social e Igualdad (Plan Nacional sobre Drogas-PNSD)","award":["2015I054"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2015I054"]}]},{"name":"The European Commission (Predicting Risk of Emerging Drugs with In silico and Clinical Toxicology (PREDICT)","award":["HOME\/2014\/JDRU\/AG\/DRUG\/7082"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["HOME\/2014\/JDRU\/AG\/DRUG\/7082"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Pharmaceuticals"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Mephedrone (4-methylmethcathinone) is a synthetic cathinone with psychostimulant properties which remains one of the most popular new psychoactive substances (NPS). It is frequently used orally and\/or intranasally. To date, no studies have evaluated the acute effects and pharmacokinetics after self-administration of mephedrone orally (ingestion) and intranasally (insufflation) in naturalistic conditions. An observational study was conducted to assess and compare the acute pharmacological effects, as well as the oral fluid (saliva) concentrations of mephedrone self-administered orally and intranasally. Ten healthy experienced drug users (4 females and 6 males) self-administered a single dose of mephedrone, orally (n = 5, 100\u2013200 mg; mean 150 mg) or intranasally (n = 5, 50\u2013100 mg, mean 70 mg). Vital signs (blood pressure, heart rate, and cutaneous temperature) were measured at baseline (0), 1, 2, and 4 h after self-administration. Each participant completed subjective effects questionnaires: A set of Visual Analogue Scales (VAS), the 49-item Addiction Research Centre Inventory (ARCI), and Evaluation of the Subjective Effects of Substances with Abuse Potential (VESSPA-SSE) at baseline, 1, 2, and 4 h after self-administration. Oral fluid and urine were collected during 4 h. Both routes of mephedrone self-administration enhanced ratings of euphoria and well-being effects and increased cardiovascular effects in humans. Although it was at times assessed that the oral route produced greater and larger effects than the intranasal one, concentrations of mephedrone in oral fluid and also the total amount of mephedrone and metabolites in urine showed that concentrations of mephedrone are considerably higher when self-administered intranasally in comparison to orally. Controlled clinical trials are needed to confirm our observational results.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ph14020100","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,28]],"date-time":"2021-01-28T09:03:45Z","timestamp":1611824625000},"page":"100","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Acute Pharmacological Effects of Oral and Intranasal Mephedrone: An Observational Study in Humans"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"given":"Esther","family":"Papaseit","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (HUGTP-IGTP), 08916 Badalona, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology, Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Cerdanyola del Vall\u00e9s, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Eulalia","family":"Olesti","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrative Pharmacology and Systems Neuroscience Research Group, Neurosciences Research Program, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (CEXS-UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6343-6918","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Clara","family":"P\u00e9rez-Ma\u00f1\u00e1","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (HUGTP-IGTP), 08916 Badalona, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology, Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Cerdanyola del Vall\u00e9s, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6222-4761","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Marta","family":"Torrens","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institut de Neuropsiquiatria i Adiccions (INAD), Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0779-6545","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francina","family":"Fonseca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institut de Neuropsiquiatria i Adiccions (INAD), Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marc","family":"Grifell","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychiatry and Forensic Medicine, Institut de Neuropsiquiatria i Adiccions (INAD), Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Mireia","family":"Ventura","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Energy Control, Associaci\u00f3 Benestar i Desenvolupament, 08041 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6765-1866","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafael","family":"de la Torre","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Integrative Pharmacology and Systems Neuroscience Research Group, Neurosciences Research Program, Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM) and Universitat Pompeu Fabra (CEXS-UPF), 08003 Barcelona, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8338-7543","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Mag\u00ed","family":"Farr\u00e9","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Clinical Pharmacology Unit, Hospital Universitari Germans Trias i Pujol (HUGTP-IGTP), 08916 Badalona, Spain"},{"name":"Department of Pharmacology, Therapeutics and Toxicology, Universitat Aut\u00f2noma de Barcelona (UAB), 08193 Cerdanyola del Vall\u00e9s, Spain"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,28]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"154","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1360-0443.2010.03130.x","article-title":"Mephedrone, new kid for the chop?","volume":"106","author":"Winstock","year":"2011","journal-title":"Addiction"},{"key":"ref_2","unstructured":"(2020, November 20). 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