In rats and mice, giving the peptide semax before a dose of amphetamine made the drug release more dopamine in the brain and caused the animals to move around even more than amphetamine alone. This shows semax can boost the brain’s dopamine response to stimulants, but the study was done only in animals, not people.

The synthetic peptide semax (a fragment of ACTH 4-7 Pro-Gly-Pro) enhances the release of extracell dopamine (DA) induced by D-amphetamine (5 mg/kg) in the striatum of Spraig-Dowley (SD) rats and increases the locomotor activity stimulated by D-amphetamine (2 mg/kg) in C57/BL6 mice. The basal content of DA, 3,4-dihydroxyphenylacetic acid (DHPAA), and homovanillic acid (HVA) in dialysate of SD rats was 0.5-1.0, 996 +/- 25, and 761 +/- 37 pmole/ml, respectively (n = 7). D-amphetamine (5 mg/kg) induced a sharp increases in the DA level (up to 20 pmole/ml) 20-40 min after treatment and reduced the extracell DHPAA content to 30% of the basal level for a prolonged time (over the entire experimental period). Preliminary (20 min before D-amphetamine) administration of semax resulted in a greater peak of DA concentration (p < 0.05) and a more pronounced drop in DHPAA level (p < 0.01) as compared to the effects produced by the psychostimulant alone. In behavioral tests on C57/BL6 mice, D-amphetamine (2 mg/kg) increased the locomotor activity to a level of 182% (p < 0.01). Simultaneous introduction of semax (0.6 mg/kg) and D-amphetamine (2 mg/kg) led to a more pronounced increase in the locomotor activity of mice (261%, p < 0.01). It is suggested that the peptide modulates dopaminergic systems involved in the formation of the psychostimulant effect.