Behavioral effects of N-ethyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDE; "EVE").

Eight male rats were trained to discriminate 2.0 mg/kg N-ethyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDE) from its vehicle using a two-lever, food-motivated operant discrimination task. Once trained, the rats showed a dose-dependent decrease in discriminative accuracy following administration of decreased doses of MDE (ED50 = 0.75 mg/kg). Administration of 1.5 mg/kg 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a recently restricted Schedule I drug, produced 100% MDE-appropriate responding in the MDE-trained rats and decreased discriminative performance was similarly observed following lower doses of MDMA (ED50 = 0.62 mg/kg). The difference in relative potencies of MDE and MDMA in rats is reminiscent of those seen in human abusers who report effective oral psychotomimetic doses. Time-course data indicated that MDE has a fast onset, 100% drug-correct responding 10 min post-injection, and a peak effect between 10-20 min with declining effect at 60-120 min post-administration. These findings along with those of others show a pharmacological similarity between MDE and MDMA. Implications as to the future scheduling of MDE are discussed.