Abstract
The putative anti-addiction alkaloid ibogaine and its principal metabolite 12-hydroxyibogamine appear to act at the (+)-5 methyl-10,11-dihydro-5H-dibenzo[a,d]cycloheten-5-10-imine maleate (MK-801) binding site in the N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA)-receptor cation channel. This conclusion is based on findings that both compounds competitively displaced specific [3H]MK-801 binding to membranes from postmortem human caudate and cerebellum and from frog spinal cord. Ibogaine was 4-6 fold more potent than its metabolite and both compounds were less potent (50-1000-fold) than MK-801 binding to the NMDA receptor. In addition, ibogaine (100 μM) and 12-hydroxyibogamine (1 mM) blocked (85-90% of control) the ability of NMDA (100μM, 5 s) to depolarize frog motoneurons in the isolated frog spinal cord. The prevention of NMDA-depolarizations in frog motoneurons showed use-dependency and was very similar to the block produced by MK-801. In view of the abilities of MK-801 to affect the responses to addictive substances in pre-clinical investigations, our results are compatible with the idea that the ability of ibogaine and 12-hydroxyibogamine to interrupt drug-seeking behavior may, in part, result from their actions at the MK-801 binding site.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 53-56 |
Number of pages | 4 |
Journal | Neuroscience Letters |
Volume | 192 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jun 2 1995 |
Keywords
- 12-hydroxyibogamine
- Caudate
- Cerebellum
- Drug abuse
- Ibogaine
- MK-801
- N-Methyl-d-aspartate receptors
- Spinal cord
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Neuroscience(all)