ABSTRACT
This chapter will review the neuronal degeneration in the forebrain of laboratory animals that can be produced by acute exposure to moderate and high doses of d-amphetamine (AMPH), d-methamphetamine (METH) or d-fenfluramine (FEN). Although the doses used to produce these lesions are considerably greater than those normally expected during drug therapy, the results of these animal studies may be directly relevant to overdoses, adverse drug interactions and intentional abuse of these compounds. The specific patterns of neuronal degeneration produced by AMPH and METH, as well as the behaviors observed from neurotoxic doses, will be characterized, compared and contrasted to that produced by FEN. The damage produced by these compounds to dopaminergic and serotonergic terminals (Seiden and Sabol, 1995; Bowyer and Holson, 1995) as well as long-term neuroregulatory changes (Wolf, 1998) produced by AMPH and related compounds are not focused upon in this chapter.
