Social Neuroscience
January 20, 2016
Anya K. Bershad, Jessica Weafer, Matthew G. Kirkpatrick et al.
35 citations
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") enhances desire to socialize and feelings of empathy, which are thought to be related to increased oxytocin levels. Thus, variation in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) may influence responses to the drug. Here, we examined the influence of a single OXTR nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on responses to MDMA in humans. Based on findings that...
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
January 4, 2016
Alicia Danforth, Christopher M Struble, Berra Yazar-Klosinski et al.
110 citations
The first study of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-assisted therapy for the treatment of social anxiety in autistic adults commenced in the spring of 2014. The search for psychotherapeutic options for autistic individuals is imperative considering the lack of effective conventional treatments for mental health diagnoses that are common in this population. Serious Adverse Events (SAEs)...
eiuc.gc.repository
2016
Lily Jarrett Pyle
According to current international drug policy, psychedelic drugs share the same abuse and ad-dictability potential as heroin. The presumption is that acknowledging any different would not only pose a threat to the safety and health of society but would compromise established moral values. Legislators have created a campaign against psychedelics since their revival in the 1960s, fighting a war...
Hellenic journal of cardiology : HJC = Hellenike kardiologike epitheorese
2016
Satoko Kanahara, Mostafa El-Refai, Nasser Lakkis et al.
Acute aortic dissection is rare among young patients in the absence of connective tissue disorders. One of the risk factors associated with aortic dissection among young patients is amphetamine use. We report a case of a 37-year-old female with a past medical history of hypertension presenting with syncope and altered mental status who was found to have an acute DeBakey Type I aortic dissection...
2016
Hanna Squire
Rationale: (±) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; ‘ecstasy’) is a recreationally abused psychostimulant that leads to detrimental effects on memory performance. MDMA’s acute effects on memory are often attributed to a working memory impairment resulting from compromised serotonin systems. However, recent evidence from non-human animal experimental studies suggests that acute MDMA may...
Neuropsychopharmacology
January 2016
Eugene A. Kiyatkin, Suelynn E Ren, Ken T. Wakabayashi et al.
MDMA-induced hyperthermia is highly variable, unpredictable, and greatly potentiated by the social and environmental conditions of recreational drug use. Current strategies to treat pathological MDMA-induced hyperthermia in humans are palliative and marginally effective, and there are no specific pharmacological treatments to counteract this potentially life-threatening condition. Here, we...
European Neuropsychopharmacology
January 2016
Jui-Hu Shih, Kuo-Hsing Ma, Chien-Fu F Chen et al.
The misuse of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has drawn a growing concern worldwide for its psychophysiological impacts on humans. MDMA abusers are often accompanied by long-term serotonergic neurotoxicity, which is associated with reduced density of cerebral serotonin transporters (SERT) and depressive disorders. Resveratrol (RSV) is a natural polyphenolic phytoalexin that has been...
PLoS One
2016
Ibrahim M. Shokry, John J. Callanan, John Sousa et al.
In spite of the fact that systemic administration of MDMA elicits serotonin syndrome, direct intracranial administration fails to reproduce the effect. To reconcile these findings, it has been suggested that the cause of serotonin syndrome is attributed mainly to MDMA hepatic metabolites, and less likely to MDMA itself. Recently, however, this explanation has been challenged, and alternative...
Neurotoxicology
January 2016
I-Hsun Li, Kuo-Hsing Ma, Tzu-Jen Kao et al.
It has been suggested that autophagy plays pathogenetic roles in cerebral ischemia, brain trauma, and neurodegenerative disorders. 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) is an illicit drug that causes long-term serotonergic neurotoxicity in the brain. Apoptosis and necrosis have been implicated in MDMA-induced neurotoxicity, but the role of autophagy in MDMA-elicited serotonergic...
Pharmacology, Biochemistry, and Behavior
2016
Linnet Ramos, Callum Hicks, Alex Caminer et al.
In laboratory rats, peripheral administration of the neuropeptides oxytocin (OT) and vasopressin (AVP) induces similar prosocial effects (i.e. increased adjacent lying) to the party drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), which are sensitive to vasopressin V1A receptor (V1AR) antagonism. Here, we employed a social preference paradigm to further compare the prosocial effects of OT, AVP...