Journal of young investigators
July 1, 2009
Michael A Ruderman, Susan B Powell, Mark A. Geyer
Sensorimortor gating and locomotion are behaviors that reflect pre-attentive sensory filtering and higher order, top-down, sensory processing, respectively. These processes are thought to affect either the perception of novelty in an environment (filtering) or cognition (higher order processing), salient features of models of altered states of consciousness (ASC). Drugs with highly selective...
Molecular Neurobiology
June 1, 2009
João Paulo Capela, Helena Carmo, Fernando Remião et al.
“Ecstasy” [(±)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, MDMA, XTC, X, E] is a psychoactive recreational hallucinogenic substance and a major worldwide drug of abuse. Several reports raised the concern that MDMA has the ability to induce neurotoxic effects both in laboratory animals and humans. Despite more than two decades of research, the mechanisms by which MDMA is neurotoxic are still to be fully...
Emergency Medicine News
June 1, 2009
Leon Gussow
Quick: Name the person who started the psychedelic movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Most people old enough to understand the question or who read Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test would probably name Ken Kesey, Wavy Gravy, or perhaps Timothy Leary. But the surprising answer is that the concept of deliberately ingesting plants or chemicals to induce hallucinations was introduced into...
Molecules and Cells
May 31, 2009
Myounghee Chae, Gyu-Seek Rhee, Ik-Soon Jang et al.
The amphetamine derivative 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has become a popular recreational drug, and has also been shown to cause serotonergic neurotoxicity. This report shows that MDMA impairs brain development in a whole mouse embryo culture. The results of quantitative real-time PCR analysis showed that autophagy-related protein 5 (Atg5) expression is elevated in mouse embryo and...
Psychopharmacology
May 27, 2009
Philip R. Corlett, Chris Frith, Paul C. Fletcher
392 citations
INTRODUCTION: Various experimental manipulations, usually involving drug administration, have been used to produce symptoms of psychosis in healthy volunteers. Different drugs produce both common and distinct symptoms. A challenge is to understand how apparently different manipulations can produce overlapping symptoms. We suggest that current Bayesian formulations of information processing in...
Toxicology and Applied Pharmacology
May 15, 2009
Jung Woo Eun, Seung Jun Kwack, Ji Heon Noh et al.
The amphetamine derivative (+/-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or ecstasy) is a synthetic amphetamine analogue used recreationally to obtain an enhanced affiliative emotional response. MDMA is a potent monoaminergic neurotoxin with the potential to damage brain serotonin and/or dopamine neurons. As the majority of MDMA users are young adults, the risk that users may expose the fetus...
International journal of cardiology
May 1, 2009
Holger M Nef, Helge Möllmann, Pirmin Hilpert et al.
24 citations
Consumption of natural hallucinogenic substances continues to be a problem. In this case we report from a young male patient presenting with an acute coronary syndrome with significant ST-elevation after the abuse of psychoactive fungi, commonly referred to as "magic mushrooms". Coronary angiography excludes relevant coronary artery disease. In ventriculography contractile dysfunction with...
Neuroscience
April 10, 2009
B N Johnson, Bryan K. Yamamoto
Exposure to stress alters the behavioral and neurochemical effects of drugs of abuse. However, it is unknown if chronic stress can affect the serotonergic depletions induced by the psychostimulant drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). Rats were exposed to 10 days of chronic unpredictable stress (CUS) which resulted in the predicted elevation of basal plasma corticosterone...
Psychopharmacology
April 2009
Thelma Schilt, Anneke E. Goudriaan, Maarten W Koeter et al.
Ecstasy (+/-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine) is a widely used recreational drug that may damage the serotonin system and may entail neuropsychological dysfunctions. Few studies investigated predictors for ecstasy use. Self-reported impulsivity does not predict the initiation of ecstasy use; the question is if neuropsychological indicators of impulsivity can predict first ecstasy use. This...
Addiction Biology
April 2009
Ema Alves, Teresa Summavielle, Cecília Juliana Alves et al.
The administration of a neurotoxic dose of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; 'ecstasy') to the rat results in mitochondrial oxidative damage in the central nervous system, namely lipid and protein oxidation and mitochondrial DNA deletions with subsequent impairment of the correspondent protein expression. Although these toxic effects were shown to be prevented by monoamine oxidase B...