DMCM (methyl 6,7-dimethoxy-4-ethyl-β-carboline-3-carboxylate) is a drug from the β-carboline family. It acts as a negative allosteric modulator of GABAA receptors, meaning that it causes the opposite effects to the benzodiazepine class of drugs. As such, DMCM has anxiogenic and convulsant properties,[1] and is used in scientific research to induce anxiety so that new anxiolytic medications can be tested,[2] and to produce convulsions so that anticonvulsant medications can be tested.[3][4][5] It has also been shown to produce analgesic effects in animals, thought to be because it produces panic which reduces the perception of pain.[6]
^Contó, MB; De Carvalho, JG; Benedito, MA (2005). "Behavioral differences between subgroups of rats with high and low threshold to clonic convulsions induced by DMCM, a benzodiazepine inverse agonist". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 82 (3): 417–26. doi:10.1016/j.pbb.2005.09.012. PMID16297441. S2CID8157142.
^Cole, BJ; Hillmann, M; Seidelmann, D; Klewer, M; Jones, GH (1995). "Effects of benzodiazepine receptor partial inverse agonists in the elevated plus maze test of anxiety in the rat". Psychopharmacology. 121 (1): 118–26. doi:10.1007/BF02245598. PMID8539336. S2CID25423119.
^De Sarro, G; Chimirri, A; McKernan, R; Quirk, K; Giusti, P; De Sarro, A (1997). "Anticonvulsant activity of azirino[1,2-d][1,4]benzodiazepines and related 1,4-benzodiazepines in mice". Pharmacology Biochemistry and Behavior. 58 (1): 281–9. doi:10.1016/S0091-3057(96)00565-5. PMID9264104. S2CID24492818.
^Leppä, E; Vekovischeva, OY; Lindén, AM; Wulff, P; Oberto, A; Wisden, W; Korpi, ER (2005). "Agonistic effects of the β-carboline DMCM revealed in GABAA receptor γ2 subunit F77I point-mutated mice". Neuropharmacology. 48 (4): 469–78. doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2004.11.007. PMID15755475. S2CID54340687.
^Sieve, AN; King, TE; Ferguson, AR; Grau, JW; Meagher, MW (2001). "Pain and negative affect: evidence the inverse benzodiazepine agonist DMCM inhibits pain and learning in rats". Psychopharmacology. 153 (2): 180–90. doi:10.1007/s002130000535. PMID11205417. S2CID2591731.