An overview of recent developments in the analytical detection of new psychoactive substances (NPSs)

New psychoactive substances (NPSs), sometimes referred to as “legal highs” in more colloquial environments/ the media, are a class of compounds that have been recently made available for abuse (not necessarily recently discovered) which provide similar effects to the traditional well studied illegal drugs but are not always controlled under existing local, regional or international drug legislation. Following an unprecedented increase in the number of NPSs in the last 5 years (with 101 substances discovered for the first time in 2014 alone) its, occasionally fatal, consequences have been extensively reported in the media. Such NPSs are typically marketed as ‘not for human consumption’ and are instead labelled and sold as plant food, bath salts as well as a whole host of other equally nondescript aliases in order to bypass legislative controls. NPSs are a new multi-disciplinary research field with the main emphasis in terms of forensic identification due to their adverse health effects, which can range from minimal to life threatening and even fatalities. In this mini-review we overview this recent emerging research area of NPSs and the analytical approaches reported to provide detection strategies as well as detailing recent reports towards providing point-of-care/in-the-field NPS (“legal high”) sensors

The evaluation of antinociceptive activity of alkaloid, methanolic, and aqueous extracts of Malaysian Mitragyna speciosa Korth leaves in rats

Mitragyna speciosa Korth is a medicinal plant indigenous to Thailand and Malaysia and has been known for its narcotic and coca-like effects. Many studies have been performed on the antinociceptive effect of the plant extracts of Thai origin; however, limited studies have been reported till date on M. speciosa extracts of Malaysian origin. Various concentrations of alkaloid (5–20 mg/kg), methanolic (50–200 mg/kg), and aqueous (100–400 mg/kg) extracts of Malaysian M. speciosa leaves were prepared and orally administered to nine groups of rats. Morphine (5 mg/kg, s.c.) and aspirin (300 mg/kg, p.o.) were used as control. Antagonism of the antinociceptive activity was evaluated by pretreatment with naloxone at a dose of 2 mg/kg (i.p.). Results showed that oral administration of the alkaloid (20 mg/kg), methanolic (200 mg/kg), and aqueous (400 mg/kg) extracts significantly prolonged the latency of nociceptive response compared with control groups in both hot plate and tail flick tests (P < 0.05). Antinociceptive action of the alkaloid (20 mg/kg), methanolic (200 mg/kg), and aqueous (400 mg/kg) extracts was significantly blocked by naloxone. In conclusion, these results suggest the presence of antinociceptive effect in various extracts of Malaysian M. speciosa leaves. In addition, the antinociceptive effective doses vary depending on the type of solvents used for extraction