Olga Wronikowska-Denysiuk

Medical University of Lublin · Independent Laboratory of Behavioral Studies

Rationale Mephedrone is a frequently overused drug of abuse that belongs to the group of novel psychoactive substances. Although its mechanism of action, as well as toxic and psychoactive effects, has been widely studied, the role of different factors that could contribute to the increased vulnerability to mephedrone abuse is still poorly understoo...

Mephedrone is a widely used drug of abuse, exerting its effects by interacting with monoamine transporters. Although this mechanism has been widely studied heretofore, little is known about the involvement of glutamatergic transmission in mephedrone effects. In this study, we comprehensively evaluated glutamatergic involvement in rewarding effects...

According to the Chief Sanitary Inspectorate, 75% of the compounds identified as new psychoactive substances in Poland are represented by synthetic cathinones. The aim of the presented paper is to describe the pharmacological profile of synthetic cathinones, including the structure-activity relationship and its impact on their biological effects. T...

Nicotine, the primary psychoactive component of tobacco, is the most widely used drug of abuse. Although the substance is well-known, there is still a lack of information concerning its long-term neurological and physiological effects and its mechanisms of action. In order to search for new, effective drugs in the therapy of nicotinism, as well as...

Mephedrone, like other psychoactive drugs, e.g. methamphetamine, enhances extracellular dopamine and serotonin level in the nucleus accumbens. Chronic use of this substance can lead to the development of addiction in animal models. Despite dopaminergic neurons, glutamate and GABA are other neurotransmitters essential for the addiction development....

Children with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs) demonstrate deficits in social functioning that contribute to early withdrawal from school and delinquency, as well as the development of anxiety and depression. Dopamine is involved in reward, motivation, and social behavior. Thus, we evaluated whether neonatal ethanol exposure (in an animal m...

Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by recurring, moderate to severe headaches, affecting a significant portion of the population, particularly females. This study aimed to investigate the neurobiological mechanisms underlying sensory and affective aspects of migraine pain, as well as sociability impairments under a migraine-like cond...

Migraine is a neurological disorder characterized by recurring, moderate to severe headaches, affecting a significant portion of the population, particularly females. The exact cause of migraines is not fully understood, but it is believed to involve a combination of genetic and environmental factors. This study aimed to investigate the neurobiolog...

Mephedrone is a psychoactive drug that increases dopamine, serotonin and noradrenaline levels in the central nervous system via interaction with transporters or monoamines. The aim of the presented study was to assess the role of the GABA-ergic system in the expression of mephedrone-induced reward. For this purpose, we conducted (a) a behavioral ev...

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder that is not satisfactorily treated with available antipsychotics. The presented study focuses on the search for new antipsychotics by optimising the compound D2AAK3, a multi-target ligand of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), in particular D2, 5-HT1A, and 5-HT2A receptors. Such receptor profile may be be...

Schizophrenia is a mental disorder with a complex pathomechanism involving many neurotransmitter systems. Among the currently used antipsychotics, classical drugs acting as dopamine D2 receptor antagonists, and drugs of a newer generation, the so-called atypical antipsychotics, can be distinguished. The latter are characterized by a multi-target pr...

Drug abuse is a worldwide problem that leads to negative physical, mental, and economic consequences. Although pharmacological strategies for drug addiction management have been widely studied, therapeutic options with high efficacy and a low side-effects profile are still limited. Recently, there has been a growing interest in oxytocin (OT) and va...

Anxiety is a troublesome symptom for many patients, especially those suffering from schizophrenia. Its regulation involves serotonin receptors, targeted e.g. by antipsychotics or psychedelics such as LSD. 5-HT2A receptors are known for an extremely long LSD residence time, enabling minute doses to exert a long-lasting effect. In this work, we explo...

Y. schidigera contains a number of unusual polyphenols, derivatives of resveratrol and naringenin, called spiro-flavostilbenoids, which have potent in vitro anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and moderate cholinesterase inhibitory activities. To date, these compounds have not been tested in vivo for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases. The aim...

Schizophrenia is a complex disease which is best treated with multitarget drugs, such as atypical antipsychotics. Previously, using structure-based virtual screening, we found a virtual hit, D2AAK1, with nanomolar affinity for dopamine and serotonin receptors important in schizophrenia pharmacotherapy. As a part of an optimization campaign of D2AAK...

Schizophrenia is a complex disease which is best treated with multitarget drugs, such as atypical antipsychotics. Previously, using structure‐based virtual screening, we found a virtual hit, D2AAK1, with nanomolar affinity for dopamine and serotonin receptors important in schizophrenia pharmacotherapy. As a part of an optimization campaign of D2AAK...

As a systemic disease, diabetes mellitus (DM) is characterized by the disruption of many glucose metabolic pathways. Therefore, it seems critical to study new therapies to support treatment to develop therapeutic systems that can operate across a broad metabolic spectrum. The current state of knowledge indicates an essential role of the gut microbi...