A serotonin–dopamine releasing agent (SDRA) is a type of

drug A drug is any chemical substance other than a nutrient or an essential dietary ingredient, which, when administered to a living organism, produces a biological effect. Consumption of drugs can be via insufflation (medicine), inhalation, drug i ...

which induces the

release Release may refer to: * Art release, the public distribution of an artistic production, such as a film, album, or song * Legal release, a legal instrument * News release, a communication directed at the news media * Release (ISUP), a code to i ...

serotonin Serotonin (), also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT), is a monoamine neurotransmitter with a wide range of functions in both the central nervous system (CNS) and also peripheral tissues. It is involved in mood, cognition, reward, learning, ...

and

dopamine Dopamine (DA, a contraction of 3,4-dihydroxyphenethylamine) is a neuromodulatory molecule that plays several important roles in cells. It is an organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families. It is an amine synthesized ...

in the body and/or brain. SDRAs are rare, as it has proven extremely difficult to dissociate dopamine and

norepinephrine Norepinephrine (NE), also called noradrenaline (NA) or noradrenalin, is an organic compound, organic chemical in the catecholamine family that functions in the brain and human body, body as a hormone, neurotransmitter and neuromodulator. The ...

release. However, in 2014, the first selective SDRAs, a series of

substituted tryptamine Substituted tryptamines, or simply tryptamines, also known as serotonin analogues (i.e., 5-hydroxytryptamine analogues), are organic compounds which may be thought of as being derived from tryptamine itself. The molecular structures of all trypt ...

s, albeit also acting as

serotonin receptor 5-HT receptors, 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors, or serotonin receptors, are a group of G protein-coupled receptor and ligand-gated ion channels found in multiple tissues including the central and peripheral nervous systems. They mediate both ex ...

agonist An agonist is a chemical that activates a Receptor (biochemistry), receptor to produce a biological response. Receptors are Cell (biology), cellular proteins whose activation causes the cell to modify what it is currently doing. In contrast, an R ...

s, were described. A closely related type of drug is a serotonin–dopamine reuptake inhibitor (SDRI), for instance

UWA-101 UWA-101 (also known as α-cyclopropyl-MDMA) is a phenethylamine derivative researched as a potential treatment for Parkinson's disease. Its chemical structure is very similar to that of the illegal drug MDMA, the only difference being the replac ...

(α-cyclopropyl-MDMA).

Examples of SDRAs

A number of

tryptamine Tryptamine is an indolamine metabolite of the essential amino acid tryptophan. The chemical structure is defined by an indole—a fused benzene and pyrrole ring, and a 2-aminoethyl group at the second carbon (third aromatic atom, with the firs ...

derivative In mathematics, the derivative is a fundamental tool that quantifies the sensitivity to change of a function's output with respect to its input. The derivative of a function of a single variable at a chosen input value, when it exists, is t ...

s, specifically

α-alkyltryptamine Substituted tryptamines, or simply tryptamines, also known as serotonin analogues (i.e., 5-hydroxytryptamine analogues), are organic compounds which may be thought of as being derived from tryptamine itself. The molecular structures of all trypt ...

s, have been found to act as SDRAs. One such agent is 5-chloro-αMT (PAL-542), which has been reported as having about 64-fold selectivity for dopamine release over norepinephrine release and about 3-fold selectivity for serotonin release over dopamine release, making it a highly selective and well-balanced SDRA. Another agent is 5-fluoro-αET (PAL-545), which has about 35-fold selectivity for dopamine release over norepinephrine release and about 4-fold selectivity for serotonin release over dopamine release. Though selective for inducing the release of serotonin and dopamine over norepinephrine, these agents are not selective monoamine releasers; they have all also been found to be potent

s of the 5-HT_2A receptor, and are likely to act as agonists of other

s as well. In any case, they are the only known releaser scaffold that consistently release dopamine more potently than norepinephrine. Another tryptamine SDRA is the

β-ketotryptamine Substituted tryptamines, or simply tryptamines, also known as serotonin analogues (i.e., 5-hydroxytryptamine analogues), are organic compounds which may be thought of as being derived from tryptamine itself. The molecular structures of all trypt ...

BK-NM-AMT BK-NM-AMT, or βk-NM-αMT, also known as β-keto-''N''-methyl-αMT or α,''N''-dimethyl-β-ketotryptamine, as well as 3-indoylmethcathinone, is a serotonin–dopamine releasing agent (SDRA) and putative entactogen of the tryptamine, α-alkyltryp ...

(α,''N''-dimethyl-β-ketotryptamine). It is the ''N''-methyl and β-keto analogue of αMT. The drug is a

cathinone Cathinone (; also known as β-ketoamphetamine) is a monoamine alkaloid found in the shrub ''Catha edulis'' (khat) and is chemically similar to ephedrine, cathine, methcathinone and other amphetamines. It is probably the main contributor to t ...

-like tryptamine and can be thought of as the tryptamine analogue of methcathinone. Its values for monoamine release are 41.3nM for serotonin and 92.8nM for dopamine, whereas it only induced 55% release of norepinephrine at a concentration of 10μM. BK-NM-AMT has been described in a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

filed by Matthew Baggott, assigned to

Tactogen Tactogen is a public benefit corporation and start-up pharmaceutical company based in Palo Alto, California that is developing novel MDMA-like entactogens and psychedelics as medicines. Its stated goal is to develop new MDMA-like drugs with impr ...

, and published in October 2024. 5-

Halogenated In chemistry, halogenation is a chemical reaction which introduces one or more halogens into a chemical compound. Halide-containing compounds are pervasive, making this type of transformation important, e.g. in the production of polymers, drugs ...

derivatives of this drug, including

BK-5F-NM-AMT BK-5F-NM-AMT, or βk-5F-NM-αMT, also known as β-keto-5-fluoro-''N''-methyl-αMT or α,''N''-dimethyl-5-fluoro-β-ketotryptamine, is a monoamine releasing agent of the tryptamine, α-alkyltryptamine, and β-ketotryptamine families. It is known ...

, BK-5Cl-NM-AMT, and BK-5Br-NM-AMT, have also been described and patented. Like BK-NM-AMT, they induce serotonin and dopamine release. In contrast to many other tryptamines, these compounds are inactive as agonists of serotonin receptors including the 5-HT₁, 5-HT₂, and 5-HT₃ receptors. In addition, unlike other α-alkyltryptamines like αMT, they are inactive as

monoamine oxidase inhibitor Monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) are a drug class, class of drugs that inhibit the activity of one or both monoamine oxidase enzymes: monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) and monoamine oxidase B (MAO-B). They are best known as effective antidepressa ...

s (MAOIs). 3-Methoxymethcathinone (3-MeOMC) is a rare possible example of a

phenethylamine Phenethylamine (PEA) is an organic compound, natural monoamine alkaloid, and trace amine, which acts as a central nervous system stimulant in humans. In the brain, phenethylamine regulates monoamine neurotransmission by binding to trace ami ...

(or rather

) SDRA. Its values for monoamine release are 129nM for dopamine and 306nM for serotonin, whereas it only induced 68% release of norepinephrine at 10μM. However, in another publication, its for induction of norepinephrine release was reported and was 111nM. ''N'',''N''-Dimethyl-4-methylthioamphetamine (''N'',''N''-dimethyl-4-MTA; 4-MTDMA, DMMTA) has been described as a releasing agent of serotonin and dopamine that lacks induction of aortic contraction ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

'' and hence may lack concomitant norepinephrine release. However, values for monoamine release were not reported. 4-MTDMA is actually a partial releaser of serotonin rather than a full releaser, with a maximal efficacy for induction of serotonin release of either 25% or 50% relative to

MDMA 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), commonly known as ecstasy (tablet form), and molly (crystal form), is an empathogen–entactogenic drug with stimulant and minor Psychedelic drug, psychedelic properties. In studies, it has been used ...

or ''para''-chloroamphetamine (PCA) (which are 100% or full releasers). Although 4-MTDMA might not induce norepinephrine release, it is a

monoamine oxidase A Monoamine oxidase A, also known as MAO-A, is an enzyme ( E.C. 1.4.3.4) that in humans is encoded by the ''MAOA'' gene. This gene is one of two neighboring gene family members that encode mitochondrial enzymes which catalyze the oxidative dea ...

(MAO-A)

inhibitor Inhibitor or inhibition may refer to: Biology * Enzyme inhibitor, a substance that binds to an enzyme and decreases the enzyme's activity * Reuptake inhibitor, a substance that increases neurotransmission by blocking the reuptake of a neurotransmi ...

, with an of 2,100nM.

Activity profiles

Mechanism of action

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Serotonin-dopamine releasing agent Serotonin-dopamine releasing agents

Examples of SDRAs

Activity profiles

Mechanism of action

See also

References