Ecstasy Damages Brain Serotonin Neurons

1
Ecstasy Damages Brain Serotonin Neurons

• Presented by Michelle Dupre
• Biology Department
• Eastern Connecticut State University

2
Positron emission tomographic evidence of toxic
effect of MDMA (Ecstasy) on brain serotonin
neurons in human beings.

• Article written by
• U.D McCann, Z. Szabo, U. Scheffel, R. F. Dannals,
  G. A. Ricaurte
• The Lancet 1998 352 1433-37

3
What do we know about Ecstasy?
3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine
Popular drug at raves, clubs, homes
4
Transport of serotonin
5
Previous findings
Animals show losses in serotonin markers
Doses parellel human doses
Previous studies use cerebrospinal fluid
6
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Neuroimaging technique
Attaches to face masks
11C Labels serotonin transporter
Detects status of neurons in the brain
7
The Experiment

• Experimental group
• Control group
• PET scanning

8
What were they looking for?
1) Differences in serotonin transport sites.
2) The relationship between MDMA use and binding.
3) Overall brain activity
9
What did they find?
MDMA users have lower densities of 5-HT
transporter sites.
Direct relationship between MDMA use and decrease
in 5-HT binding.
10
What does this all mean????
11
DEATH
16 years old
23 years old
18 years old
12
Any Questions?
13
(No Transcript)