Methamphetamine use and dependency is a serious public health problem with implications across multiple areas from societal impact to burden on psychiatric and medical resources. Different areas such as East and Southeast Asia, Australia, Middle West and Western areas of United States and some regions of Great Britain are suffering from Methamphetamine use and related problems. An estimated 8% of admissions to substance abuse treatment programs are associated to stimulants with Methamphetamine misuse. The comparison of demographic characteristics and variety of substances in Methadone maintenance clinic of Baharan Psychiatry Hospital in Zahrdan, Iran in 2009-2011, has reported an increasing proceeding of Methamphetamine use from 6% to about 20%. The Administrator of Health and Social anti-drug campaign declared that the substance related psychotic symptoms are noticeable among Methamphetamine users, it has also been reported that 50% of patients of psychiatric wards consist of Methamphetamine users psychosis patients, which would bring a number of harmful demerits to this the wards.

Background: Methamphetamine (meth) is recognized as a highly addictive psychostimulant. Currently, there are no available treatments for meth abuse, and no animal model of meth self-administration has been proposed to represent human meth selfadministration. Objectives: We aimed to develop a model to study meth self-administration through inhalation in rats. Methods: Rats were placed in an inhaler apparatus (designed specifically for this purpose) for 15 min per day over two weeks. There were two levers in the cage. Pressing the passive lever had no outcomes. Whereas, for each active lever pressing, an infusion pump delivered 50  L of meth or distilled water within two seconds. Meth was evaporated on a hot plate adjacent to the rat cage. After loading the drug over the hot plate, the blower fan was run, and the vaporized drug was blown by the fan into the rat cage. Then, meth-induced conditioned place preference and locomotor activity were assessed following 14 days of meth inhalation. The serum concentration of meth was also determined by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Results: In this model, the self-administration of meth through inhalation significantly increased locomotor activity, conditioned place preference, and plasma level of meth. Conclusions: We can conclude that the self-administration of meth through inhalation is a novel and effective route of selfadministration. Ournewprotocol presents a promising tool for examining drug-seeking/taking behaviorsandneural consequences in a noninvasive approach to reduce the stress of surgery and injection in laboratory animals and increase the validity of animal experiments.

The main objective of the present study was to compare the distribution of underlying factors such as neurological soft signs, obstetric complications, and family history of psychiatric disorders between two groups of schizophrenic patients and patients with prolonged Methamphetamine-induced psychosis. In a casecontrol study, 30 patients with prolonged Methamphetamine-induced psychosis and 30 patients with schizophrenia were selected. Data were collected through a demographic questionnaire, the Buchanan and Heinrichs’ Neurological Evaluation Scale (NES), the Lewis-Murray’ s Obstetric Complications Scale (LMOCS), and the Weissman’ s Family History Screen (FHS). Mean scores of the neurological soft signs (± SD) in the two groups of schizophrenic patients and patients with prolonged Methamphetamine-induced psychosis were 15. 7± 8. 7 and 11. 7± 6. 2, respectively (P=0. 040), and a significant difference was observed in the sensory integration between the two groups (P=0. 022). Obstetric complications revealed similar distributions in the two groups. Patients with prolonged Methamphetamine-induced psychosis reported higher prevalence of alcohol and other substances use disorders (P=0. 003 and P=0. 001, respectively) in their close relatives; however, the distributions of other disorders were not statistically different between the two groups’ close relatives. Similarities and differences in certain aspects were observed between the two groups, suggesting susceptibility for psychosis in patients with prolonged Methamphetamine-induced psychosis; yet we found diversities that distinguish the two disorders.