Research Square
January 12, 2026
Lucas M Wittenkeller, Gary A. Gudelsky, T. John Winhusen et al.
preprint
Abstract Aims: The investigation of psychedelics as potential therapies has expanded dramatically in the past decade, leading to their study in a wide range of conditions. Here, we characterize all ongoing clinical trials utilizing a psychedelic intervention with the goals of identifying trends in experimental design and application and discuss how findings from individual, ongoing clinical...
British Journal of Pharmacology
September 2, 2025
Lucas M Wittenkeller, Gary A. Gudelsky, Theresa Winhusen et al.
3 citations
Abstract Psychedelics have garnered great attention in recent years as treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD) and treatment‐resistant depression because of their ability to alter consciousness and afflicted cognitive processes with lasting effects. We aimed to characterise how psychedelics are currently being investigated to treat substance use disorders (SUDs). Additionally, we aimed...
Neurotoxicology
December 2016
Courtney L Huff, Rachel L Morano, James P Herman et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) is a unique psychostimulant that continues to be a popular drug of abuse. It has been well documented that MDMA reduces markers of 5-HT axon terminals in rodents, as well as humans. A loss of parvalbumin-immunoreactive (IR) interneurons in the hippocampus following MDMA treatment has only been documented recently. In the present study, we tested the...
Journal of Neurochemistry
March 1, 2016
Stuart A. Collins, Courtney L Huff, Nicolas Chiaia et al.
Abstract: 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a widely abused psychostimulant, which causes release of serotonin in various forebrain regions. Recently, we reported thatMDMAincreases extracellular glutamate concentrations in the dentate gyrus, via activation of 5HT2A receptors. We examined the role of prostaglandin signaling in mediating the effects of 5HT2A receptor activation on the...
European Journal of Pharmacology
August 15, 2015
Stuart A. Collins, Gary A. Gudelsky, Bryan K. Yamamoto
MDMA is a widely abused psychostimulant which causes a rapid and robust release of the monoaminergic neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Recently, it was shown that MDMA increases extracellular glutamate concentrations in the dorsal hippocampus, which is dependent on serotonin release and 5HT2A/2C receptor activation. The increased extracellular glutamate concentration coincides with a...
BioMed Research International
2014
Georg F. Weber, Bethann N. Johnson, Bryan K. Yamamoto et al.
19 citations
MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a substituted amphetamine and popular drug of abuse. Its mood-enhancing short-term effects may prompt its consumption under stress. Clinical studies indicate that MDMA treatment may mitigate the symptoms of stress disorders such as posttraumatic stress syndrome (PTSD). On the other hand, repeated administration of MDMA results in persistent deficits...
Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology
November 17, 2012
John H. Anneken, Jacobi I. Cunningham, Stuart A. Collins et al.
52 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; Ecstasy) is a popular drug of abuse with well-documented acute effects on serotonergic, dopaminergic, and cholinergic transmitter systems, as well as evidence of long-term disruption of serotoninergic systems in the rat brain. Recently, it was demonstrated that MDMA evokes a delayed and sustained increase in glutamate release in the hippocampus. The...
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
January 8, 2010
Bryan K. Yamamoto, Anna Moszczyńska, Gary A. Gudelsky
280 citations
The drugs of abuse, methamphetamine and MDMA, produce long‐term decreases in markers of biogenic amine neurotransmission. These decreases have been traditionally linked to nerve terminals and are evident in a variety of species, including rodents, nonhuman primates, and humans. Recent studies indicate that the damage produced by these drugs may be more widespread than originally believed....
Neuropharmacology
December 2008
Matthew R. Skelton, Jessica A Able, Curtis E. Grace et al.
3,4-Methlylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) administration (4 x 15 mg/kg) on a single day has been shown to cause path integration deficits in rats. While most animal experiments focus on single binge-type models of MDMA use, many MDMA users take the drug on a recurring basis. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of repeated single-day treatments with MDMA (4 x 15 mg/kg) once...
Synapse
September 15, 2004
Sunila G Nair, Gary A. Gudelsky
The role of 5-HT2 receptors in the regulation of acetylcholine (ACh) release was examined in the medial prefrontal cortex and dorsal hippocampus using in vivo microdialysis. The 5-HT(2A/2C) agonist +/-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl) -2- aminopropane hydrochloride (DOI) (1 and 2 mg/kg, i.p.) significantly increased the extracellular concentration of ACh in both brain regions, and this response...
Synapse
2001
Mahalakshmi Shankaran, Bryan K. Yamamoto, Gary A. Gudelsky
97 citations
MDMA-induced 5-HT neurotoxicity has been proposed to involve oxidative stress due to increased formation of hydroxyl radicals. Recently, MDMA-induced 5-HT neurotoxicity has been shown to be accompanied by a suppression of behavioral and neurochemical responses to a subsequent injection of MDMA. The intent of the present study was to examine whether suppression of the MDMA-induced formation of...
Psychopharmacology
January 2001
Tanya L. Wallace, Gary A. Gudelsky, Charles V. Vorhees
The long-term neurochemical effects produced by the repeated administration of methamphetamine (MA) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are well documented; however, the functional consequences have not been clearly defined. The present study was designed to investigate whether rats treated with a monoamine-depleting regimen of MA or MDMA exhibit disturbances in locomotor activity...
Journal of Neurochemistry
1996
Gary A. Gudelsky, J. Frank Nash
249 citations
Abstract: In vivo microdialysis was used to determine whether the 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)‐induced release of serotonin (5‐HT) in vivo involves a carrier‐mediated process and to investigate further the state‐dependent interaction between 5‐HT and dopamine. MDMA produced a dose‐dependent increase in the extracellular concentration of 5‐HT in the striatum and prefrontal cortex...
Journal of Neural Transmission
1996
Gary A. Gudelsky
The extent of long-term depletion of serotonin (5-HT) produced by 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetmaine (MDMA) was assessed in rats treated with the antioxidants sodium ascorbate or L-cysteine. There was a 30-35% reduction in the striatal concentration of 5-HT 7 days following a single injection of MDMA (20 mg/kg, s.c.). MDMA had no significant effect on striatal concentrations of 5-HT in rats that...
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
June 1, 1995
Bryan K. Yamamoto, J F Nash, Gary A. Gudelsky
The effects of the amphetamine analog, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) were compared to the effects of d-amphetamine on the in vivo release of dopamine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the striatum and substantia nigra. The brain region-dependent role of the 5-HT2 receptors in the striatum and substantia nigra in regulating MDMA-induced dopamine and GABA release also was studied....
European Journal of Pharmacology
November 3, 1994
Gary A. Gudelsky, Bryan K. Yamamoto, J F Nash
144 citations
The effects of the 5-HT2 receptor agonists 1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane (DOI) and 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeODMT) on 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-induced dopamine release and 5-HT depletion in the striatum were studied. The MDMA-induced increase in the extracellular concentration of dopamine in the striatum was enhanced significantly in rats treated with...
Neuroscience Letters
August 1, 1994
J F Nash, B L Roth, J D Brodkin et al.
The effect of the R(-) and S(+) isomers of 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and its N-methyl analog 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on [3H]inositol monophosphate accumulation was studied in cells expressing either 5-HT2A or 5-HT2C receptors. The isomers of MDA produced a concentration dependent increase in phosphatidyl inositol (PI) hydrolysis at the 5-HT2A receptors, with the R(-)...
Journal of Neurochemistry
March 1, 1990
J. Frank Nash, Herbert Y. Meltzer, Gary A. Gudelsky
Abstract: The effect of the racemic mixture of 3,4‐methy‐lenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) on the synthesis of dopamine in the terminals of nigrostriatal and mesolimbic neurons was estimated by measuring the accumulation of 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylalanine (DOPA) in the striatum and nucleus accumbens 30 min following the administration of the l‐aromatic amino acid decarboxylase inhibitor,...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
August 1, 1989
J F Nash, Herbert Y. Meltzer, Gary A. Gudelsky
40 citations
The repeated administration of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeODMT, 3 mg/kg, twice daily for 14 days) significantly diminished hypothermia and corticosterone secretion induced by an acute challenge with the 5-HT1A agonist 8-OH-DPAT (0.1 mg/kg) when compared to the responses in animals treated chronically with the solvent vehicle. In contrast, the chronic administration of 5-MeODMT did...
Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics
June 1, 1988
Jr Jf Nash, Herbert Y. Meltzer, Gary A. Gudelsky
The racemic mixture of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which has been reported to produce selective destruction of serotonergic neurons in the central nervous system, was studied to determine its neuroendocrine and temperature effects and mechanism of action. MDMA elevated serum concentrations of corticosterone in doses ranging from 3 to 20 mg/kg administered i.p. Serum corticosterone...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
March 1, 1985
Gary A. Gudelsky, J I Koenig, Herbert Y. Meltzer
54 citations
The incidence of "wet dog" shakes elicited by quipazine, the hyperthermic response induced by 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5MeODMT) and the hypothermic response to 8-hydroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino) tetralin (8-OH-DPAT) were compared in rats of the Fawn-Hooded (FH) and Sprague-Dawley (SD) strains. The behavioral responses of FH rats to quipazine and 5MeODMT were significantly greater than...