ORIGINAL ARTICLE Acute and repeated administration of MDPV increases aggressive behavior in mice: forensic implications Fabio De-Giorgio 1 & Sabrine Bilel 2 & Andrea Ossato 1 & Micaela Tirri 3,4 & Raffaella Arfè 1,4 & Federica Foti 1 & Giovanni Serpelloni 5 & Paolo Frisoni 4 & Margherita Neri 4 & Matteo Marti 3,4 Received: 5 March 2019 /Accepted: 22 May 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract MDPV is a synthetic cathinone illegally marketed and consumed for its psychostimulant effects, which are similar to those produced by cocaine, amphetamines, and MDMA. Clinical reports indicate that MDPV produces euphoria, increases alertness, and at high doses causes agitation, psychosis, tachycardia and hypertension, hallucinations, delirium, hyperthermia, rhabdomy- olysis, and even death. In rodents, MDPV reproduces the typical physiological effects of psychostimulant drugs, demonstrating greater potency than cocaine. Nevertheless, its role in aggressive behavior has been reported but not yet experimentally con- firmed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of acute and repeated MDPV (0.01–10 mg/kg i.p.) admin- istration on aggressive behavior in mice and to compare them with those of cocaine (0.01–10 mg/kg i.p.) administration. To this purpose, the resident–intruder test in isolated mice and the spontaneous and stimulated aggressiveness tests for group-housed mice were employed. The present study shows for the first time that MDPV enhances aggressive behavior and locomotion in mice with greater potency and efficacy than cocaine treatment. Moreover, the aggressive and locomotor responses are enhanced after repeated administration, indicating that a sensitization mechanism comes into play. These results, although from preclinical investigation, are suggestive that human MDPV intake could be a problem for public health and the criminal justice system. Thus, investigation by police officers and medical staff is needed to prevent interpersonal violence induced by the consumption of synthetic cathinones. Keywords Aggressive behavior . Novel psychoactive substances . MDPV . Cocaine . Forensic science . Rape drugs Abbreviations MDPV 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone NPS Novel psychoactive substances DA Dopamine NE Noradrenaline 5-HT Serotonin DAT Dopamine transporter NET Noradrenaline transporter SERT Serotonin transporter DUID Driving under the influence of drugs DFSA Drug-facilitated sexual assault Introduction Synthetic cathinones are the second largest group of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) monitored by the European and US Monitoring Centers [1, 2]. They are structurally relat- ed to cathinone, a stimulant found in the Catha edulis plant, Fabio De-Giorgio and Sabrine Bilel contributed equally to this work. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02092-3) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. * Matteo Marti matteo.marti@unife.it 1 Institute of Public Health, Section of Legal Medicine, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, L.go F. Vito 1, 00168 Rome, Italy 2 Department of Life Sciences and Biotechnology (SVeB), University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy 3 Collaborative Center for the Italian National Early Warning System, Department of Anti-Drug Policies, Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Ferrara, Italy 4 Department of Morphology, Experimental Medicine and Surgery, Section of Legal Medicine and LTTA Centre, University of Ferrara, via Fossato di Mortara 70, 44121 Ferrara, Italy 5 Department of Psychiatry in the College of Medicine, Drug Policy Institute, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, USA International Journal of Legal Medicine https://doi.org/10.1007/s00414-019-02092-3