Ecstasy, the Brain, and Serotonin (MIA) :: Biology Essays Research Papers

Ecstasy, the Brain, and Serotonin (MIA) 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or ecstasy, is a synthetic, psychoactive drug with stimulant and hallucinogenic properties. Ecstasy is an often talked about drug due to its recent popularity and rapid spread amongst teenagers especially. Many newspapers and magazines have featured articles in the past 5 years highlighting the danger of this easily made drug, and its rampant use in the club/rave scene of almost all Western countries. The complete effects of ecstasy are still unknown, although much research has been produced that shows the deleterious effects of the drug on the brain. Ecstasy is also controversial because the content of pills varies widely; buyers and sometimes sellers don't really know what each pill consists of (1). The results of a survey published in 2002 set out with the purpose of examining the prevalence and patterns of ecstasy use among college students, and to determine characteristics, associated behaviors, and interests of ecstasy users. These resu lts showed that from 1997-1999, ecstasy use increased significantly in every college subgroup except for noncompetitive schools. The variable most strongly associated with ecstasy use was found to be marijuana. In terms of social context, MDMA users were more likely to spend large amounts of time socializing, attend residential colleges, and belong to a fraternity or sorority. The first study that provided direct evidence that chronic use of ecstasy causes brain damage was published in 1999. The study used advanced brain imaging techniques (PET scan) to show that MDMA harms neurons that release serotonin, a chemical that is thought to play an important role in memory, among other functions. The PET scans showed significant reductions in the number of serotonin transporters, the sites on neuron surfaces that reabsorb serotonin from the space between cells after it has completed its work. The lasting reduction of serotonin transporters occurred throughout the brain. This study and others suggest that brain damage and the amount of MDMA ingested are directly correlated (2). But what are the functional consequences? The functional consequences of ecstasy use have just begun to be explored in the past few years. Another study, published in 2000, found that heavy ecstasy users (30-1000 occasions) as opposed to non-ecstasy users, reported significantly higher scores on tests for somatisation, obsessionality, anxiety, hostility, phobic-anxiety, paranoid ideation, psychoticism, poor appetite, an restless or disturbed sleep. Another interesting effect of MDMA found was a significantly higher degree of impulsivity.