Psychopharmacology
December 1, 2011
Roland R. Griffiths, Matthew W Johnson, William A Richards et al.
938 citations
This dose-effect study extends previous observations showing that psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having persisting positive effects on attitudes, mood, and behavior. This double-blind study evaluated psilocybin (0, 5, 10, 20, 30 mg/70 kg, p.o.) administered under supportive conditions. Participants were 18 adults (17 hallucinogen-naïve). Five 8-h sessions were conducted...
Synapse (New York, N.Y.)
October 2011
Melanie Mueller, Jie Yuan, Concepcion Maldonado Adrian et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)'s O-demethylenated metabolite, 3,4-dihydroxymethamphetamine (HHMA), has been hypothesized to serve as a precursor for the formation of toxic catechol-thioether metabolites (e.g., 5-N-acetylcystein-S-yl-HHMA) that mediate MDMA neurotoxicity. To further test this hypothesis, HHMA formation was blocked with dextromethorphan (DXM), which competitively...
Psychopharmacology
October 2011
Una D McCann, Robert R Edwards, Michael T Smith et al.
(±)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a popular recreational drug that has potential to damage brain serotonin (5-HT) neurons in humans. Brain 5-HT neurons play a role in pain modulation, yet little is known about long-term effects of MDMA on pain function. Notably, MDMA users have been shown to have altered sleep, a phenomenon that can lead to altered pain modulation. This study...
Neurology
July 4, 2011
Una D. Mccann, Francis P. Sgambati, Alan R. Schwartz et al.
1 citation
Background: Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") is a popular recreational drug of abuse and a selective brain serotonin neurotoxin.Functional consequences of MDMA neurotoxicity have defied ready characterization.Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common form of sleep-disordered breathing in which brain serotonin dysfunction may play a role.The present study sought to determine...
The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics
July 2011
Melanie Mueller, Amy K Goodwin, Nancy A Ator et al.
The baboon is potentially an attractive animal for modeling 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) effects in humans. Baboons self-administer MDMA, are susceptible to MDMA neurotoxicity, and are suitable for positron emission tomography, the method most often used to probe for MDMA neurotoxicity in humans. Because pharmacokinetic equivalence is a key feature of a good predictive animal model,...
Synapse
June 3, 2011
Michael W. McLane, Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
11 citations
A number of published studies have questioned the serotonin neurotoxic potential of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") and related drugs (fenfluramine, p-chloroamphetamine) based upon results from Western blot studies using a custom synthesized serotonin transporter (SERT) antibody that found no reduction in the abundance of a 50kDa protein after substituted amphetamine...
Chemical Research in Toxicology
May 10, 2011
Anne Neudörffer, Melanie Mueller, Claire-Marie Martinez et al.
5 citations
The purpose of the present study was to determine if trihydroxymethamphetamine (THMA), a metabolite of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy"), or its thioether conjugate, 6-(N-acetylcystein-S-yl)-2,4,5-trihydroxymethamphetamine (6-NAC-THMA), play a role in the lasting effects of MDMA on brain serotonin (5-HT) neurons. To this end, novel high-yield syntheses of THMA and 6-NAC-THMA were...
Drug metabolism and disposition: the biological fate of chemicals
October 2009
Melanie Mueller, Jie Yuan, Anne Felim et al.
The mechanism by which the recreational drug (+/-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) destroys brain serotonin (5-HT) axon terminals is not understood. Recent studies have implicated MDMA metabolites, but their precise role remains unclear. To further evaluate the relative importance of metabolites versus the parent compound in neurotoxicity, we explored the relationship between...
Psychopharmacology
October 2008
Una D McCann, Zsolt Szabó, Melin Vranesic et al.
(+/-)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") is a recreational drug and brain serotonin (5-HT) neurotoxin. Under certain conditions, MDMA can also damage brain dopamine (DA) neurons, at least in rodents. Human MDMA users have been found to have reduced brain 5-HT transporter (SERT) density and cognitive deficits, although it is not known whether these are related. This study sought...
The Scientific World Journal
2007
Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
52 citations
Abuse of stimulant drugs invariably leads to a disruption in sleep-wake patterns by virtue of the arousing and sleep-preventing effects of these drugs. Certain stimulants, such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), may also have the potential to produce persistent alterations in circadian regulation and sleep because they can be neurotoxic toward brain monoaminergic neurons involved in...
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
February 2006
Annis Mechan, Jie Yuan, George Hatzidimitriou et al.
A large body of data indicates that (+/-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'ecstasy') can damage brain serotonin neurons in animals. However, the relevance of these preclinical data to humans is uncertain, because doses and routes of administration used in animals have generally differed from those used by humans. Here, we examined the pharmacokinetic profile of MDMA in squirrel monkeys...
Adicciones
December 15, 2003
Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
El incremento del consumo de éxtasis (MDMA) por parte de los jóvenes ha obligado al estudio de efectos a corto y medio plazo sobre el SNC. En la última década, se demostró la existencia de neurotoxicidad serotoninérgica en el SNC. Recientemente aparecieron estudios tendentes a demostrar también daño dopaminérgico que se ha evidenciado en experimentación animal. Las diferentes técnicas de...
Science
September 27, 2002
George A. Ricaurte, Jie Yuan, George Hatzidimitriou et al.
179 citations
Retracted
The prevailing view is that the popular recreational drug (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or “ecstasy”) is a selective serotonin neurotoxin in animals and possibly in humans. Nonhuman primates exposed to several sequential doses of MDMA, a regimen modeled after one used by humans, developed severe brain dopaminergic neurotoxicity, in addition to less pronounced serotonergic...
Neuropsychobiology
2000
George A. Ricaurte, Jie Yuan, Una D. Mccann
291 citations
The popular recreational drug, (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ‘Ecstasy’) is a potent and selective brain serotonin (5-HT) neurotoxin in animals. MDMA-induced 5-HT neurotoxicity can be demonstrated using a variety of neurochemical, neuroanatomical and, more recently, functional measures of 5-HT neurons. Although the neurotoxic effects of MDMA in animals are widely accepted, the...
Neuropsychobiology
2000
Una D. Mccann, Victoria Eligulashvili, George A. Ricaurte
192 citations
(±)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ‘Ecstasy’) is a brain serotonergic neurotoxin in experimental animals, including nonhuman primates. It is also an increasingly popular recreational drug of abuse, and doses of MDMA that are used recreationally overlap with those that produce serotonin (5-HT) neurotoxicity in animals. Studies in human MDMA users probing for evidence of brain...
Journal of Neuroscience
June 15, 1999
George Hatzidimitriou, Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
338 citations
The recreational drug (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”) is a potent and selective brain serotonin (5-HT) neurotoxin in animals and, possibly, in humans. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether brain 5-HT deficits persist in squirrel monkeys beyond the 18-month period studied previously and to identify factors that influence recovery of injured 5-HT axons....
Neurology
December 1, 1998
Karen I. Bolla, Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
376 citations
Abstinent MDMA users have impairment in verbal and visual memory. The extent of memory impairment correlates with the degree of MDMA exposure and the reduction in brain 5-HT, as indexed by CSF 5-HIAA.
Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
August 1, 1995
Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
6 citations
Una D. McCann, MD, NIMH, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland. George A. Ricaurte, MD, PhD, Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland.
Addiction
May 1, 1994
Thomas Steele, Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
295 citations
Abstract (±)3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”), a ring‐substituted amphetamine derivative first synthesized in 1914, has emerged as a popular recreational drug of abuse over the last decade. Pharmacological studies indicate that MDMA produces a mixture of central stimulant and psychedelic effects, many of which appear to be mediated by brain monoamines, particularly serotonin...
Sleep
September 1, 1993
Richard P. Allen, Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte
113 citations
(+/- )3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a recreational drug of abuse which damages serotonin neurons in animals. It is not known whether MDMA is also neurotoxic in humans, and if so, whether there are functional consequences. Given the putative role of serotonin in sleep, it was hypothesized that one manifestation of serotonin neurotoxicity in humans might be disturbances of sleep. To...
Biological Psychiatry
November 15, 1992
Una D. Mccann, G. Ricaurte
( +_ )3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a synthetic amphetamine analogue used recreationally by humans in the United States (Pcroutka 1987) and Western Europe (Anon 1992), and is thought by some to have potential utility as a psychotherapoutic adjunct (Grinspoon and Bakalar 1986). It is generally believed that MDMA acts via central monoamines, primariJy by inducing transmitter release...
Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology
October 1, 1991
Una D. Mccann, George A. Ricaurte, Domenic A. Ciraulo
137 citations
Two persons are described who demonstrated prolonged neuropsychiatric syndromes after the ingestion of large doses of (+-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a recreationally used amphetamine analog. These cases suggest that MDMA, known to be neurotoxic to serotonin neurons in several experimental animals, may also produce untoward effects in humans. In addition, they provide evidence...
April 5, 1991
Una D. Mccann, G. Ricaurte
The two major metabolites of (-+)3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), alpha-methyldopamine (a-MeDA) and 3-O-methyl-amethyldopamine (3-O-Me-a-MeDA), were administered to rats intracerebroventricularly and into brain parenchyma. In addition, their precursors, (a-MeDOPA and 3-O-Me-a-MeDOPA, respectively) were administered systemically, individually and in combination. None of these treatments...