Administration of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) to various experimental animals has been shown to induce a selective damage to serotonergic axon terminals. While a great consensus appears to exist regarding the causative role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the mechanisms underlying MDMA toxicity, the source of free radicals is still a matter of debate. While some...
Amiloride and several of its congeners known to block the Na(+)/Ca(2+) and/or Na(+)/H(+) antiporters potentiate methamphetamine-induced neurotoxicity without altering methamphetamine-induced hyperthermia. We now examine whether amiloride also exacerbates 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-induced long-term serotonin (5-HT) loss in rats. Amiloride (2.5 mg/kg, every 2 h x 3, i.p.) given at...
Abstract: Neurotoxicity induced by different substituted amphetamines has been associated with the exhaustion of intracellular energy stores. Accordingly, we examined the influence of 2‐deoxy‐D‐glucose (2‐DG), a competitive inhibitor of glucose uptake and metabolism, and nicotinamide, an agent that improves energy metabolism, on 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)‐induced...