Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
December 30, 2015
Felix Mueller, Claudia Lenz, Markus Steiner et al.
68 citations
MDMA ("ecstasy") is widely used as a recreational drug, although there has been some debate about its neurotoxic effects in humans. However, most studies have investigated subjects with heavy use patterns, and the effects of transient MDMA use are unclear. In this review, we therefore focus on subjects with moderate use patterns, in order to assess the evidence for harmful effects. We searched...
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
December 3, 2015
María P García-Pardo, M C Blanco-Gandía, M Valiente-Lluch et al.
Previous studies have demonstrated that social defeat stress increases the rewarding effects of psychostimulant drugs such as cocaine and amphetamine. In the present study we evaluated the long-term effects of repeated social defeat (RSD) on the rewarding effects of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) hydrochloride in the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm. Adolescent and young...
Neuropharmacology
December 2015
Sophia A. Vandewater, Kevin M Creehan, Michael A. Taffe
The intravenous self-administration (IVSA) of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is inconsistent in rats, with up to half of subjects failing to acquire reliable drug intake. It is unknown if this changes under long-access conditions (6 h sessions) under which the IVSA of cocaine and methamphetamine escalates. The entactogen class cathinone stimulants which exhibit MDMA-like monoamine...
Iranian Red Crescent medical journal
November 26, 2015
Mitra Behroozaghdam, Mehrdad Hashemi, Gholamreza Javadi et al.
Background: 3-4methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a synthetic and psychoactive drug, which is known popularly as Ecstasy and has toxic effects on human organs. Objectives: Considering the potential toxic interaction, this study was performed to quantify the expression of bax and bcl2 genes in MDMA-induced hepatotoxicity on rat liver. Subsequently, we evaluated pentoxifylline as a possible...
Behavioural Brain Research
November 1, 2015
Kevin T. Ball, Hanna Jarsocrak, Johanna Hyacinthe et al.
Although exposure to acute stress has been shown to reinstate extinguished responding for a wide variety of drugs, no studies have investigated stress-induced reinstatement in animals with a history of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ecstasy) self-administration. Thus, rats were trained to press a lever for MDMA (0.50 mg/kg/infusion) in daily sessions, and lever pressing was...
NMR in Biomedicine
October 1, 2015
Daniel Coman, Basavaraju G. Sanganahalli, Lihong Jiang et al.
(+/−)3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”) is an abused psychostimulant that produces strong monoaminergic stimulation and whole‐body hyperthermia. MDMA‐induced thermogenesis involves activation of uncoupling proteins (UCPs), primarily a type specific to skeletal muscle (UCP‐3) and absent from the brain, although other UCP types are expressed in the brain (e.g. thalamus) and might...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
October 2015
Magí Farré, Angels Tomillero, Clara Pérez‐mañá et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is a popular psychostimulant, frequently associated with multiple administrations over a short period of time. Repeated administration of MDMA in experimental settings induces tolerance and metabolic inhibition. The aim is to determine the acute pharmacological effects and pharmacokinetics resulting from two consecutive 100mg doses of MDMA...
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews
September 25, 2015
Philip Kamilar-Britt, G. Bedi
165 citations
Users of ±3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ‘ecstasy’) report prosocial effects such as sociability and empathy. Supporting these apparently unique social effects, data from controlled laboratory studies indicate that MDMA alters social feelings, information processing, and behavior in humans, and social behavior in rodents. Here, we review this growing body of evidence. In rodents, MDMA...
Translational Psychiatry
September 15, 2015
Matthew B Young, Raül Andero, Kerry J. Ressler et al.
137 citations
Abstract Acutely administered 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ‘ecstasy’) has been proposed to have long-term positive effects on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms when combined with psychotherapy. No preclinical data support a mechanistic basis for these claims. Given the persistent nature of psychotherapeutic gains facilitated by MDMA, we hypothesized that MDMA improves...
Psychiatry Research
August 30, 2015
Dalena van Heugten-van der Kloet, Timo Giesbrecht, Janelle H. P. van Wel et al.
Some drugs of abuse may produce dissociative symptoms, but this aspect has been understudied. We explored the dissociative potential of three recreational drugs (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), cannabis, and cocaine) during intoxication and compared their effects to literature reports of dissociative states in various samples. Two placebo-controlled studies were conducted. In Study 1...
European Journal of Pharmacology
August 15, 2015
Stuart A. Collins, Gary A. Gudelsky, Bryan K. Yamamoto
MDMA is a widely abused psychostimulant which causes a rapid and robust release of the monoaminergic neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. Recently, it was shown that MDMA increases extracellular glutamate concentrations in the dorsal hippocampus, which is dependent on serotonin release and 5HT2A/2C receptor activation. The increased extracellular glutamate concentration coincides with a...
Journal of Analytical Toxicology
August 10, 2015
Iain M. Mcintyre, Amber Trochta, Ray D. Gary et al.
30 citations
In this case report, we present an evaluation of postmortem concentration distribution of the hallucinogenic compound 4-methoxyphencyclidine (4-MeO-PCP) in a fatality principally attributed to this drug. Another hallucinogen, 4-hydroxy-N-methyl-N-ethyltryptamine was also detected, but was not quantitated. A man--who had a history of recent 'strange' behavior--was found deceased, on his bed, in...
Psychopharmacology
July 2015
Linnet Ramos, Callum Hicks, Alex Caminer et al.
Oxytocin (OT), vasopressin (AVP) and 3,4 methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, 'Ecstasy') all increase social interaction in rats, perhaps by enhancing the rewarding value of social encounters. Here, we used the conditioned place preference (CPP) paradigm to assess the intrinsic rewarding effects of OT, AVP and MDMA, and whether these effects are enhanced by the presence of a conspecific, or a...
Neurotoxicology
July 2015
Rubén García‐cabrerizo, M Julia García-Fuster
While hippocampus is a brain region particularly susceptible to the effects of MDMA, the cellular and molecular changes induced by MDMA are still to be fully elucidated, being the dosage regimen, the species and the developmental stage under study great variables. This study compared the effects of one and four days of MDMA administration following a binge paradigm (3×5 mg/kg, i.p., every 2 h)...
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
July 2015
Aimee L May, Andrew C. Parrott
Previous studies have shown increased sexual risk-taking in experienced MDMA/ecstasy users. The main objectives of this study were to compare levels of sexual risk-taking between a young student sample of predominantly heterosexual MDMA users and alcohol-drinker controls and investigate potential gender differences. Recreational drug use and sexual risk questionnaires were completed by 20 MDMA...
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
July 1, 2015
Giulia Francesconi, Laura Orsolini, Duccio Papanti et al.
22 citations
INTRODUCTION: Venlafaxine is one of the most frequently prescribed antidepressants worldwide, despite its toxicity risk in overdose. Furthermore, the molecule has been recently identified at the EU-wide level as one of the novel psychoactive substances. This paper aims at investigating the potential of misuse, taking into account both the existing literature and the analysis of the misusers'...
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
July 1, 2015
Lynn T. Singer, Derek G. Moore, Meeyoung O. Min et al.
16 citations
This paper aims to review findings from a longitudinal study of prenatal methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”) on infant development.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
June 23, 2015
Matthew J. Baggott, Jeremy Coyle, Jennifer D. Siegrist et al.
21 citations
preprint
Abstract The drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”, “molly”) is a widely used illicit drug and experimental adjunct to psychotherapy. MDMA has unusual, poorly understood socioemotional effects, including feelings of interpersonal closeness and sociability. To better understand these effects, we conducted a within-subjects double-blind placebo controlled study of the effects of...
Therapeutic Advances in Psychopharmacology
June 1, 2015
Rachel Patel, Daniel Titheradge
Background: Unipolar depression is the third highest contributor to the global burden of disease, yet current pharmacotherapies typically take about 6 weeks to have an effect. A rapid-onset agent is an attractive prospect, not only to alleviate symptoms before first-line antidepressants display therapeutic action, but as a further treatment option in nonresponsive cases. It has been suggested...
Drug and Alcohol Dependence
June 1, 2015
Shawn. M. Aarde, Michelle L Miller, Kevin M Creehan et al.
Exercise influences drug craving and consumption in humans and drug self-administration in laboratory animals, but the effects can be variable. Improved understanding of how exercise affects drug intake or craving would enhance applications of exercise programs to human drug users attempting cessation. Rats were trained in the intravenous self-administration (IVSA) of D-methamphetamine (METH;...