European Journal of Neuroscience
November 16, 2007
Susan Schenk, Lincoln S. Hely, Barbara Lake et al.
113 citations
Abstract 3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) self‐administration has been shown in animals with extensive drug histories, but only a small number of studies have examined high rates of responding maintained by MDMA in previously drug‐naïve animals. In the present study, influence of dose (0.25 or 1.0 mg/kg/infusion) on the acquisition of MDMA self‐administration was measured during daily...
Neurotoxicology
November 2007
Anna M S Kindlundh-Högberg, Helgi B Schiöth, Per Svenningsson
The popular recreational drug, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is often taken as intermittent binges by adolescents at dance clubs. The neurobiological mechanisms that underlie MDMA-induced psychiatric conditions are still poorly understood. In the present study, mimicking adolescent patterns of administration, repeated intermittent MDMA binges (3x5 mg/(kg day) given 3h apart, every...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
November 1, 2007
Ben Sessa, David Nutt
39 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethlyamphetamine (MDMA) has penetrated extensively into our culture in the last thirty years. It started life in medicine when adopted as a clinical tool by psychotherapists on the West Coast of America who used it as an alternative to the then banned LSD for facilitating interactions in couples’ therapy. From the therapist’s couch the drug leaked into public use, with a...
Synapse
October 25, 2007
Noelia Granado, Isabel Escobedo, Esther O’shea et al.
59 citations
Abstract The amphetamine analogue 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or “Ecstasy”) is a popular drug of abuse which causes different neurotoxic effects in the mouse compared with the rat. In mice, MDMA produces damage to striatal dopamine terminals, having little long‐term effects on serotonin (5‐HT) containing neurons. A relevant feature of the striatum is its striosome/matrix...
Journal of Forensic Sciences
October 18, 2007
Ruth Smith
38 citations
Abstract: Profiling illicit ecstasy tablets has the potential to become an invaluable tool in the crackdown on drug trafficking, but that potential has yet to be fully realized. The impurity profile of an ecstasy tablet can be used to determine the method employed to synthesize the actual controlled substance, which in most cases, is 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Tablets can then be...
Addiction Biology
October 2, 2007
Firas H Kobeissy, Jennifer A. Jeung, Matthew W Warren et al.
47 citations
ABSTRACT Club drug abuse is a growing problem in the United States. Beyond addiction and toxicity are endocrine effects which are not well characterized. Specifically, the changes in appetite following exposure to drugs of abuse are an interesting but poorly understood phenomenon. Serum hormones such as leptin, ghrelin, growth hormone (GH), and neuropeptide‐Y (NP‐Y) are known to affect...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
October 2007
Kevin T. Ball, Kelly M Walsh, George V. Rebec
The widely used recreational drug MDMA (ecstasy) supports self-administration in animals, but it is not known whether MDMA-associated cues are able to reinstate drug seeking in a relapse model of drug addiction. To assess this possibility, drug-naïve rats were trained to press a lever for MDMA infusions (0.30 mg/kg/infusion, i.v.) paired with a compound cue (light and tone) in daily 2 h...
Drug Metabolism and Disposition
October 2007
Matthew L Banks, Jon E. Sprague, David F Kisor et al.
Changes in ambient temperature are known to alter both the hyperthermic and the serotonergic consequences of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Metabolism of MDMA has been suggested to be a requisite for these neurotoxic effects, whereas the hyperthermic response is an important contributing variable. The aim of the present study was to investigate the interaction between ambient...
Psychopharmacology
October 2007
Rosa Hoshi, Kate Mullins, Catherine Boundy et al.
Despite years of research and much controversy surrounding the effects of ecstasy use, findings are equivocal. Attempting to reduce methodological problems, such as concurrent use of other recreational drugs, could lead to a clearer picture of the effects of ecstasy use on cognitive function. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of both prolonged abstention from ecstasy use and...
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
September 25, 2007
Konstantine K. Zakzanis, Zachariah Campbell, Diana Jovanovski
87 citations
Abstract A growing number of empirical studies have found varying neuropsychological impairments associated with use of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) use. We set out to determine to what extent neuropsychological abilities are impaired in MDMA users. To do so, meta‐analytical methods were used to determine the magnitude of neuropsychological impairment in MDMA users across...
British Journal of Pharmacology
September 24, 2007
Therese Montgomery, Christophe Buon, S Eibauer et al.
33 citations
Background and purpose: Illegal ‘ecstasy’ tablets frequently contain 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)‐like compounds of unknown pharmacological activity. Since monoamine transporters are one of the primary targets of MDMA action in the brain, a number of MDMA analogues have been tested for their ability to inhibit [ 3 H]noradrenaline uptake into rat PC12 cells expressing the...
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
September 15, 2007
Sara Garcia-Ratés, Jordi Camarasa, Elena Escubedo et al.
Previous work from our group indicated that alpha7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (alpha7 nAChR) potentially play a role in methamphetamine (METH) and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) neurotoxicity. The aims of the present study were two-fold: (1) to demonstrate the interaction of METH and MDMA with homomeric alpha7 nAChR ([(3)H]methyllycaconitine binding) and other heteromeric...
Biological Psychiatry
September 15, 2007
Mauro Federici, Luca Sebastianelli, Silvia Natoli et al.
Although dopamine (DA) has been implicated in the psychostimulant properties of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), there is no detailed information on its modalities of action on single ventral midbrain dopaminergic neurons. We examined the actions of MDMA on intracellularly recorded dopaminergic neurons maintained in slices. At 1 micromol/L, MDMA depolarized and excited the cells; at 3...
Acta neuropathologica
September 2007
Matthew W Warren, Stephen F Larner, Firas H Kobeissy et al.
Abuse of the club drugs Methamphetamine (Meth) and Ecstasy (MDMA) is an international problem. The seriousness of this problem is the result of what appears to be programmed cell death (PCD) occurring within the brain following their use. This follow up study focused on determining which cell types, neurons and/or glial cells, were affected in the brains of drug-injected rats. Two proteolytic...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 22, 2007
Rüssel S. Falck, Jichuan Wang, Robert G. Carlson
45 citations
Research suggests that methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)/`ecstasy' can cause serotonin depletion as well as serotonergic neurodegradation that may result in depression. This longitudinal study used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II) to assess depressive symptomatology every six months over a two-year period among a community sample of young adult MDMA/`ecstasy' users ( n = 402)....
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 2007
Matthew W Warren, Wenrong Zheng, Firas H Kobeissy et al.
Abuse of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy) and methamphetamine (Meth or Speed) is a growing international problem with an estimated 250 million users of psychoactive drugs worldwide. It is important to demonstrate and understand the mechanism of neurotoxicity so potential prevention and treatment therapies can be designed. In this study rat primary cerebrocortical neuron...
Addictive Behaviors
August 2007
Hylke K E Vervaeke, Dirk J Korf, Annemieke Benschop et al.
This article documents the design and the sampling procedures of a prospective longitudinal multidisciplinary study on the neurotoxicity of ecstasy (MDMA): the Netherlands XTC Toxicity Study (NeXT). Targeted and snowball sampling was used to recruit 188 respondents who were ecstasy-naive at baseline. All respondents completed baseline questionnaires and underwent medical and neuropsychological...
Experimental and Clinical Psychopharmacology
August 2007
Rosa Hoshi, Lisa Cohen, Lucy Lemanski et al.
+/-3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) remains a widely used recreational drug, which, in animals, can produce long-lasting changes to the brain's serotonergic system. As serotonin has been implicated in human aggression, it is possible that ecstasy users are at risk of increased aggression even after prolonged abstention from the drug. The objective of this study was to...
Psychopharmacology
August 2007
Gerry Jager, Maartje M. L. de Win, Hylke K E Vervaeke et al.
Heavy ecstasy use in humans has been associated with cognitive impairments and changes in cognitive brain function supposedly due to damage to the serotonin system. There is concern that even a single dose of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine may be neurotoxic, but very little is known about the consequences of a low dose of ecstasy for cognitive brain function. The objective of the study was...
Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
July 25, 2007
Edmund Silins, Jan Copeland, Paul Dillon
76 citations
Growth of the antidepressant market and widespread use of the illicit drug ecstasy (methylenedioxymethamphetamine; MDMA) creates a need to delineate the potential harms associated with the concomitant use of ecstasy and serotonergic pharmaceutical drugs. One such harm is serotonin syndrome. The study aimed to synthesize the risk of serotonin syndrome associated with the concomitant use of...