1. The ability of N-ethyl (MDEA) and N-butyl (MDBA) analogues of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'Ecstasy') to induce acute behavioural changes and increases in body temperature, and to cause serotonergic neurotoxicity, was assessed in young adult male Wistar rats. The in vitro ability of MDMA analogues to evoke presynaptic monoamine release from crude rat forebrain synaptosomal...
(+/-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; "Ecstasy"), an increasingly popular recreational drug, is known to damage brain serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine [5-HT]) neurons, whilst also having a less pronounced effect on the dopaminergic system. Treatment with MDMA results in an increased locomotor activity, elevated basal serum corticosterone concentrations, decreased exploratory activity, and...