MDMA pretreatment leads to mild chronic unpredictable stress-induced impairments in spatial learning.
Jacobi I. Cunningham, Jamie Raudensky, John Tonkiss, Bryan K. Yamamoto
Behavioral Neuroscience October 1, 2009 DOI: 10.1037/a0016716 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Experimental study Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Population | Rats |
| Interventions | MDMA mild chronic unpredictable stress |
| Duration | 10 days of chronic unpredictable stress, preceded by MDMA pretreatment 7 days earlier |
| Topics | MDMA Serotonin |
| Keywords | Serotonin transporter Hippocampus Chronic stress Hallucinogen Pharmacology |
| Citations | 27 |
| Post-publication review | 1 comment on PubPeer (opens in new tab) · last active September 2016 |
| Key findings | Prior MDMA exposure leads to stress-induced learning impairments in rats that are not seen with stress alone and are unrelated to enhanced hippocampal serotonin transporter depletion. |
Abstract
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a drug of abuse worldwide and a selective serotonin (5-HT) neurotoxin. An important factor in the risk of drug abuse and relapse is stress. Although multiple parallels exist between MDMA abuse and stress, including effects on 5-HTergic neurotransmission, few studies have investigated the consequences of combined exposure to MDMA and chronic stress. Therefore, rats were pretreated with MDMA and exposed 7 days later to 10 days of mild chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). MDMA pretreatment was hypothesized to enhance the effects of CUS leading to enhanced 5-HT transporter (SERT) depletion in the hippocampus and increased anxiety and cognitive impairment. Whereas MDMA alone increased anxiety-like behavior on the elevated plus maze, CUS alone or in combination with MDMA pretreatment did not increase anxiety-like behavior. In contrast, MDMA pretreatment led to CUS-induced learning impairment in the Morris water maze but not an enhanced depletion of hippocampal SERT protein. These results show that prior exposure to MDMA leads to stress-induced impairments in learning behavior that is not otherwise observed with stress alone and appear unrelated to an enhanced depletion of SERT.