Methylene-dioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is known to cause degeneration of serotonin nerve terminals after acute doses in animals. Similarly, behavioral studies in human MDMA users regularly find abnormalities in memory, mood, and impulse control. However, studies of brain function using brain imaging in MDMA users have been less consistent. The purpose of this study was to determine, using...
Abstract 3,4,‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ‘ecstasy’) acts at monoamine nerve terminals to alter the release and re‐uptake of dopamine and 5‐HT. The present study used microdialysis in awake rats to measure MDMA‐induced changes in extracellular GABA in the ventral tegmental area (VTA), simultaneous with measures of extracellular dopamine (DA) in the nucleus accumbens (NAC) shell....
The use of ecstasy (MDMA) has developed in the young since the eighties, particularly in festive settings. Among the severe adverse events induced by this synthetic drug, the hepatotoxicity related to MDMA and to its physiopathological mechanism warrant attention. A 21 year-old man consulted for anaemia that had persisted over the past months with abnormality in hepatic profile. The...
The present study investigated characteristics of recreational drug users, especially 'ecstasy' (MDMA) users, in 254 undergraduates. All participants completed a drug history questionnaire (DHQ), the impulsiveness venturesomeness and empathy questionnaire, a novel risk-taking task (Bets16), and 59 also completed the tri-dimensional personality questionnaire (TPQ). DHQ responses allocated...
The predominant severe acute adverse effect following ingestion of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) by recreational users is hyperthermia which can induce other associated clinical problems and occasionally death. There is no pharmacologically specific treatment. MDMA also induces dose-dependent hyperthermia in experimental animals. This review examines the consequences of MDMA...
3,4-Methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA) and 3,4-methyl-enedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) are widely abused amphetamine derivatives that target the serotonin system. The serotonergic neurotoxicity of MDA and MDMA seems dependent on their systemic metabolism. 5-(Glutathion-S-yl)-alpha-methyldopamine [5-(GSyl)-alpha-MeDA] and 2,5-bis(glutathion-S-yl)-alpha-methyldopamine...
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a popular illicit drug that evokes transporter-mediated release of serotonin (5-HT) and dopamine (DA) from nerve cells. Recently, drug users have ingested combinations of the piperazine analogs, 1-benzylpiperazine (BZP) and 1-(m-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine (TFMPP), in an attempt to mimic the subjective effects of MDMA. In the present study, we...
A bstract : It has been shown that mice deficient in neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) gene are resistant to cocaine‐induced psychomotor sensitization and methamphetamine (METH)‐induced dopaminergic neurotoxicity. The present study was undertaken to investigate the hypothesis that nNOS has a major role in dopamine (DA)‐ but not serotonin (5‐hydroxytryptamine; 5‐HT)‐mediated effects of...
AbstractTo elucidate the role of the serotonin (5‐HT)2A/2C receptors in 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)‐induced neurotoxicity, MDMA was administered to rats and the presence of the serotonin transporter (5‐HTT) was assessed at the protein level with immunohistochemistry (IHC), and the RNA level with a Northern blotting technique. d‐lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and MDL 11,939 were...
PsychopharmacologySeptember 2004Niels Alting Von Geusau, Pieter Stalenhoef, Mariette Huizinga et al.
Long-term users of ecstasy have shown impaired performance on a multitude of cognitive abilities (most notably memory, attention, executive function). Research into the pattern of MDMA effects on executive functions remains fragmented, however. To determine more systematically what aspects of executive function are affected by a history of MDMA use, by using a model that divides executive...
The technique of ‘binge’ dosing (several doses in one session) by recreational users of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) requires evaluation in terms of its consequences on the acute hyperthermic response and long-term neurotoxicity. We examined the neurotoxic effects of this dosing schedule on 5-HT and dopamineneurones in the rat brain. When repeated (three) doses of MDMA (2,...
Abstract It has recently been reported that purity of illicit tablets of ecstasy (MDMA) is now high. Our objective was to confirm whether hair of drug users, who request only ecstasy from their supplier, contains MDMA in the absence of other drugs. GC-MS analysis of scalp hair segments disclosed the presence of MDMA in 19 of 21 subjects and amphetamine/methamphetamine in eight subjects....
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) has been shown to induce long-term deficits in serotonergic function in animal models. Several studies have suggested that dopamine (DA) uptake into serotonin (5-HT) terminals by the 5-HT reuptake transporter (SERT) and subsequent deamination by monoamine oxidase-B (MAO-B) leads to the formation of hydrogen peroxide and may be major contributors...
A substantial literature suggests that users of illicit 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") display residual cognitive deficits. Most MDMA users, however, use other illicit drugs as well, so it is difficult to be certain that these deficits are due to MDMA, as opposed to other drug use or additional confounding factors. We administered a battery of neuropsychological tests to...
Abstract 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in previous experiments has been shown to induce long‐term spatial and sequential learning and memory deficits in adult offspring after exposure to the drug on postnatal (P) days 11–20, but not after exposure on P1–10. Herein we further tested for the effects of MDMA (0, 5, 10 or 20 mg/kg × 2/day) after exposure on P11–20 on reference and...
Two agents gaining popularity on the illicit drug market are the phenylalkylamines 4-MTA and 2C-T-7 [or 1-(4-methylthiophenyl)-2-aminopropane and 2-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-n-propylthiophenyl)-1-aminoethane, respectively]. At this time, there exists a paucity of information on the behavioral actions of these sulfur-containing agents. The present investigation examined these agents, and the N-monomethyl...
Abstract The involvement of µ‐opioid receptors in the rewarding properties of MDMA was explored in µ‐opioid receptor knockout mice using the conditioning place preference paradigm. The associated release of dopamine in the nucleus accumbens was investigated by in vivo microdialysis. A significant rewarding effect of MDMA (10 mg/kg, i.p.) was observed in both wild‐type and µ‐opioid receptor...
Abstract Positron emission tomography (PET) studies with radiolabeled dopamine D 2 ‐like receptor ligands reveal d ‐amphetamine‐evoked increases in the competition from endogenous dopamine. However, the corresponding effects of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “Ecstasy”), which releases catecholamines and also serotonin, are unknown. Using PET, we measured the binding potentials ( pB s) of...
Abstract Previous experiments conducted in this laboratory showed that administration of high‐dose D‐fenfluramine (D‐FEN) and p‐chloroamphetamine (PCA) decreased 5‐HT transporter (SERT) binding and tissue 5‐HT by 30–60% in caudate and whole brain tissue 2 days and 2 weeks after drug administration. However, protein expression as determined by Western blot analysis did not change in either...
The neurotoxicity of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) has been intensely investigated due to the widespread abuse of this drug and its neurotoxic effects. In mice, MDMA neurotoxicity has been demonstrated for striatal dopamine (DA) terminals. However, the current literature has reported great variability in the effects induced by MDMA; this is partially due to changes in...