Behavioural Pharmacology
June 1, 2017
Jeremy I Webster, David N. Harper, Susan Schenk
Studies that have attributed the discriminative stimulus effects of ±3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) to serotonergic mechanisms typically use a relatively low training dose of 1.5 mg/kg. The role of serotonin in the discriminative stimulus effects of higher doses of MDMA is, however, unknown. Separate groups of rats were trained to discriminate MDMA (1.5 or 3.0 mg/kg) from saline using...
Psychopharmacology
May 27, 2017
Patrick C. Dolder, Felix Müller, Yasmin Schmid et al.
118 citations
RATIONALE: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is used recreationally and investigated as an adjunct to psychotherapy. Methylphenidate and modafinil are psychostimulants that are used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and narcolepsy, respectively, but they are also misused as cognitive enhancers. Little is known about differences in the acute effects of equally...
Brain Research
May 23, 2017
Maryam Rostami, Ameneh Rezayof, Sakineh Alijanpour et al.
The aim of the current study was to examine the effect of dorsal hippocampal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) activation on the functional interaction between ethanol and 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) in memory retrieval. The dorsal hippocampal CA1 regions of adult male NMRI mice were bilaterally cannulated and memory retrieval was measured in a step-down...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 16, 2017
André Schmidt, Felix Müller, Patrick C. Dolder et al.
41 citations
Background: Psychostimulants such as methylphenidate and modafinil are increasingly used by healthy people for cognitive enhancement purposes, whereas the acute effect of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) on cognitive functioning in healthy subjects remains unclear. This study directly compared the acute effects of methylphenidate, modafinil, and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine on...
Journal of Neuroscience Research
May 11, 2017
Alireza Gharebaghi, Iraj Amiri, Iraj Salehi et al.
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) leads to apoptosis in the hippocampus with consequent induction of learning and memory impairment. In this study, we have investigated the effects of treadmill exercise on memory in relation to apoptosis and oxidative stress in the hippocampi of MDMA-treated rats. Male Wistar rats received multiple intraperitoneal (IP) injections of MDMA (10 mg/kg) and...
Neuroscience Letters
May 10, 2017
Ben Sessa
There is a range of therapies to treat Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) but treatment resistance remains high, with many sufferers experiencing the chronic condition. Engagement in trauma-focused psychotherapy is difficult for some patients with PTSD, especially those with extreme affect dysregulation associated with recall of traumatic memories. In recent years there have been a number of...
Neurotherapeutics
May 5, 2017
Ben Sessa
11 citations
Since the late 1980s the psychoactive drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has had a well-known history as the recreationally used drug ecstasy. What is less well known by the public is that MDMA started its life as a therapeutic agent and that in recent years an increasing amount of clinical research has been undertaken to revisit the drug's medical potential. MDMA has unique...
Behavioural Brain Research
May 4, 2017
María P García-Pardo, Marta Rodríguez‐arias, José Miñarro et al.
It is estimated that 2.1 million young adults used MDMA/Ecstasy in the last year in Europe. Vulnerable subjects can develop dependence after MDMA abuse but currently there does not exist an effective treatment for this disorder. The nitric oxide (NO) pathway seems to have an important role on the rewarding effects of different drugs and has been proposed as a new pharmacological treatment for...
Behavioural Brain Research
May 1, 2017
Akihiro Mouri, Yukihiro Noda, Minae Niwa et al.
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) is known to induce dependence and psychosis in humans. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in the synaptic plasticity and neurotrophy in midbrain dopaminergic neurons. This study aimed to investigate the role of BDNF in MDMA-induced dependence and psychosis. A single dose of MDMA (10mg/kg) induced BDNF mRNA expression in the prefrontal...
Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental
May 2017
Catharine Montgomery, John E. Fisk, Carl A Roberts
Cognitive deficits are now well documented in ecstasy (MDMA) users with type and relative demand of task emerging as important factors. The updating component of executive processes appears to be particularly affected. The study reported here used functional near infrared spectroscopy imaging to investigate changes in cortical haemodynamics during memory updating. Twenty ecstasy users and 20...