Comment · Mon, November 5, 2012 · Ceretropic
Piracetam and psychostimulants
Original post in this thread
gannons · 23 points
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030698771200206X
So from what im reading hear is the Piracetam increases the effects of MDMA and Meth. Could one safely say that you would notice an increase effect of Ritalin while on piracetam?
What they were answering
newworkaccount · 8 points
Piracetam, when administered with amphetamine or related phenthylamines, may potentially have both negative AND positive effects.
When administered with amphetamine:
Piracetam increases K+ mediated dopamine release, and increases permeability of membranes to the entry of dopamine. Piracetam increases glutaminergic activity, as does amphetamine.
Co-administration of piracetam with amphetamine demonstrably enhances locomotor effect in animal models. This suggests that it enhances the central effect of amphetamine. (Though the effect and neurotoxicity of amphetamine and related chemicals varies wildly in animals models, making the applicability of animals models to humans problematic.) It is known that methamphetamine users frequently combine meth and piracetam, and drug dealers have even packaged them together (increased effect=reduced meth content=reduced cost).
So, piractem probably does potentiate amphetamine greatly (though they do not appear to boost memory formation synergistically when administered together).
However, piracetam also greatly increases addiction and craving behaviors in every animal model tested; additionally, when tested as a possible therapy for treating cocaine addiction, it actually increased cravings and drug-seeking behavior.
This makes sense-- glutamergic transmission plays a huge role in reinforcement, learned respon…
u/MisterYouAreSoDumb · Ceretropic
Exactly. This is why there is great debate as to whether or not piracetam increases excitotoxicity when administered with dopaminiergic drugs. It most definitely increases the effectiveness of dopamine in various areas of the brain. However, it's effects on NMDA and AMPA receptors are my obvious focus. Piracetam absolutely shows increased calcium influx into neurons, which is a main cause of excitotoxicity and tolerance. However, there is not currently conclusive evidence that it's voltage-dependent actions on those ion channels cause any damage, or if they in fact help modulate the transmission. Those people who have formed a tolerance to MDMA and amphetamines find that piracetam definitely brings back some of the magic. Since MDMA's and amphetamine's tolerance stems from a lowering of effectiveness at your gated calcium channels, and piracetam has been shown to increase influx of calcium through said channels, one can see the pharmacological reasoning for the anecdotes. What we need to figure out now is if this added influx of calcium has a limit. Does piracetam being an allosteric modulator give it the ability to close the calcium channel once a certain voltage has been reached, and is that voltage at a level before excitotoxicity comes into play? If so, then we should get potentiation without damage. However, that is a big "if" right now.