Human Brain Mapping
August 27, 2001
Edi Frei, Alex Gamma, Roberto D Pascual-Marqui et al.
175 citations
Abstract 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'Ecstasy') is a psychostimulant drug producing heightened mood and facilitated social communication. In animal studies, MDMA effects are primarily mediated by serotonin (5‐HT), but also by dopamine (DA) and possibly noradrenaline (NA). In humans, however, the neurochemical and neurophysiological basis of acute MDMA effects remains unknown. The...
Psychopharmacology
March 5, 2001
Matthias E. Liechti, Alex Gamma, Franz X. Vollenweider
357 citations
Rationale3.4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) mainly releases serotonin (5-HT) and is contained in the recreational drug Ecstasy. 5-HT is known to play an important role in mood and anxiety disorders, for which there is a female preponderance. To date, there are no systematic data on gender differences in the subjective effects of MDMA.ObjectivesThe present work analyzed the pooled data...
Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
February 1, 2001
Alex Gamma, Alfred Buck, Thomas Berthold et al.
84 citations
The long-term use of the serotonin-releaser and uptake-inhibitor 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") has been associated with memory impairments and increased liability to depressive mood and anxiety attacks. It is unclear, however, whether these psychologic deviations are reflected in alterations of the underlying neurophysiologic substrate. The authors compared mood and...
Archives of General Psychiatry
December 1, 2000
Daniel Umbricht, Liselotte Schmid, Rene Koller et al.
590 citations
BACKGROUND: In patients with schizophrenia, deficient generation of mismatch negativity (MMN)-an event-related potential (ERP) indexing auditory sensory ("echoic") memory-and a selective increase of "context dependent" ("BX") errors in the "A-X" version of the Continuous Performance Test (AX-CPT) indicate an impaired ability to form and use transient memory traces. Animal and human studies...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
May 1, 2000
Matthias E. Liechti, Franz X. Vollenweider
144 citations
MDMA (3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) or ‘Ecstasy’ is a widely used recreational drug that produces a state of heightened mood but also cardiovascular and vegetative side-effects. In animals, MDMA releases serotonin and, to a lesser extent, dopamine and norepinephrine. The release of serotonin can be blocked by serotonin uptake inhibitors such as citalopram. It is unknown to what extent...
Neuropsychopharmacology
May 1, 2000
Matthias E. Liechti, Christine Baumann, Alex Gamma et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”) is a recreational drug that has been shown to release serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) in animals. The effect of MDMA on 5-HT release can be blocked by 5-HT uptake inhibitors such as citalopram, suggesting that MDMA interacts with the 5-HT uptake site. It is unknown whether this mechanism is also responsible for the psychological effects of...
Neuroreport
2000
Alex Gamma, Edi Frei, Dietrich Lehmann et al.
81 citations
Resting EEG during open and closed eyes and subsequent mood ratings were obtained from 15 Ecstasy users and 14 Ecstasy-naive controls. Absolute spectral power on the scalp, and the three-dimensional, intracerebral distribution of neuroelectric activity using low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) were computed. LORETA revealed global increases of theta, alpha 1 and beta 2/3...
Neuropsychopharmacology
May 1999
Franz X. Vollenweider, P Vontobel, Daniel Hell et al.
The modulating effects of serotonin on dopamine neurotransmission are not well understood, particularly in acute psychotic states. Positron emission tomography was used to examine the effect of psilocybin on the in vivo binding of [11C]raclopride to D2-dopamine receptors in the striatum in healthy volunteers after placebo and a psychotomimetic dose of psilocybin (n = 7). Psilocybin is a potent...
Neuroreport
December 1, 1998
Franz X. Vollenweider, M. F. I. Vollenweider-Scherpenhuyzen, Andreas Bäbler et al.
1,023 citations
Psilocybin, an indoleamine hallucinogen, produces a psychosis-like syndrome in humans that resembles first episodes of schizophrenia. In healthy human volunteers, the psychotomimetic effects of psilocybin were blocked dose-dependently by the serotonin-2A antagonist ketanserin or the atypical antipsychotic risperidone, but were increased by the dopamine antagonist and typical antipsychotic...
Pharmacopsychiatry
July 1, 1998
Franz X. Vollenweider
131 citations
Recent research into the pharmacological mechanism of hallucinogens (LSD, psilocybin) and dissociative anesthetics (PCP, ketamine) suggest that multiple neurotransmitter systems are involved in drug-induced and possibly also in naturally occurring psychoses. Specifically, animal models suggest that a dysbalance between serotonin, glutamate, and dopamine in the limbic cortico-striato-thalamic...
Neuropsychopharmacology
May 1997
Franz X. Vollenweider, K L Leenders, C Scharfetter et al.
The effects of the indolehallucinogen psilocybin, a mixed 5-HT2 and 5-HT1 agonist, on regional cerebral glucose metabolism were investigated in 10 healthy volunteers with PET and [F-18]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) prior to and following a 15- or 20-mg dose of psilocybin. Psychotomimetic doses of psilocybin were found to produce a global increase in cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (CMRglu) with...