The Journal of Clinical Pharmacology
October 28, 2021
K W Smith, Dakota Sicignano, Adrían V. Hernández et al.
136 citations
Abstract This article discusses current literature on the use of 3,4‐methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)‐assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). MDMA, the intended active ingredient in illicit Ecstasy or Molly products, is a psychedelic that causes an elevated mood, feeling of bonding, and increased energy. In MDMA‐assisted psychotherapy, patients are...
PLoS One
October 25, 2021
Annie Regan, Seth Margolis, Harriet de Wit et al.
18 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is a psychostimulant known for producing positive subjective effects and for enhancing social functioning and social connection in both clinical and recreational settings. Over the past two decades, scientists have begun to study the psychological effects of MDMA through rigorous placebo-controlled experimental work. However, most existing studies have...
October 14, 2021
Diego Hannon Ovies
1 citation
Although young countercultural travellers and spiritual seekers have visited Latin American indigenous communities for the purposes of drug-induced consciousness expansion and shamanic-assisted spiritual healing since the 1960s, the Millennial generation is playing a pivotal role in the global revitalization of indigenous spiritual practices by producing and spreading information through...
Journal of chemical neuroanatomy
October 2021
Golshad Kowsari, Soraya Mehrabi, Sara Soleimani Asl et al.
MDMA (3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a common recreational drug of abuse which causes neurodegeneration. Nicotine and modafinil provide antioxidant and neuroprotective properties and may be beneficial in the management of MDMA-induced neurotoxicity. The purpose of this study was to characterize how acute and chronic administration of nicotine and/or modafinil exert protective effects...
Experimental Neurology
October 1, 2021
Giulia Costa, Krystyna Gołembiowska
64 citations
Preclinical and clinical studies indicate that 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'ecstasy'), in addition to having abuse potential, may elicit acute and persistent abnormalities of varying severity at the central level. Importantly, neurotoxic effects of MDMA have been demonstrated in experimental animals. Accordingly, central toxicity induced by MDMA may pose a serious harm for health,...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 27, 2021
Jason B. Luoma, M. Kati Lear
11 citations
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a prevalent and often debilitating psychiatric disorder that can assume a chronic course even when treated. Despite the identification of evidence-based pharmacological and behavioral treatments for SAD, much room for improved outcomes exists and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has been proposed as a promising adjunctive treatment to psychological...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
September 6, 2021
Elena Argento, Devon Christie, Lindsay Mackay et al.
12 citations
The COVID-19 pandemic stands to have impacts on mental health and well-being that will extend beyond its formal resolution. Before COVID-19, mental health disorders were already challenging global healthcare systems, directly accounting for 7.4% of the total burden of disease (1, 2). An estimated 1 billion people worldwide suffer from a mental health disorder, with the two most common...
Journal of Psychopharmacology
August 31, 2021
Isaac Cohen, Laken Barber, Tyson Paul Dubnicka et al.
1 citation
3,4 Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy has been recently found to be highly effective for treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Previous studies have been inconclusive in elucidating potential MDMA genotoxicity. We performed three regulatory compliant studies to investigate the potential of genotoxic effects of MDMA treatment in humans: (1) an in vitro bacterial...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
August 27, 2021
Giulia Costa, Francesca Felicia Caputi, Marcello Serra et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, “ecstasy”) is an amphetamine-related drug that may damage the dopaminergic nigrostriatal system. To investigate the mechanisms that sustain this toxic effect and ascertain their sex-dependence, we evaluated in the nigrostriatal system of MDMA-treated (4 × 20 mg/kg, 2 h apart) male and female mice the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), the gene...
Ophthalmology Research: An International Journal
August 20, 2021
Joshua O. Owolabi, Philip O. Ogunnaike
The implications of the use of psychoactive substances, that are usually abused on the retina are yet to be adequately explored. The retina is neural in nature. Most investigations on psychoactive agents have only studied their effects on the brain and behaviour. The mechanisms employed by these agents in producing their effects on the brain suggest that the retina, being neural, might also be...