Although ‘ecstasy’ (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA) is, after marijuana, the second most prevalent illegal drug of abuse in European adolescents, animal experimental evidence of MDMA’s reinforcing effect has remained scarce, particularly in the rodent model, raising questions about the robustness of MDMA’s reinforcing effect under controlled laboratory conditions. In the present rat...
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ‘ecstasy’) is one of the most prevalent illegal drugs of abuse among European adolescents, a population not generally experienced with respect to ‘hard’ drugs such as cocaine. We, therefore, determined the reinforcing effect of intravenously self-administered MDMA in a fixed ratio 1 time-out 150 s schedule of reinforcement in rats that were truly drug...
Abstract The pharmacological basis of acute (±)‐MDMA (3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine) intoxication still awaits full characterization. According to present knowledge, MDMA enhances the release of serotonin and dopamine in striatal slices and interacts with different types of receptors such as 5‐HT 2 (5‐hydroxytryptamine or serotonin), M 1 and M 2 muscarinic acetylcholine (ACh), and histamine...