ArticleCurrent neuropharmacology2011
The Nature of 3, 4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA)-Induced Serotonergic Dysfunction: Evidence for and Against the Neurodegeneration Hypothesis.
Article in Current neuropharmacology, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 19 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
19 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- Ecstasy, molly, MDMA: What health practitioners need to know about this common recreational drug.Disease-a-month : DM · 2025Review
- Brain dysfunctions and neurotoxicity induced by psychostimulants in experimental models and humans: an overview of recent findings.Neural regeneration research · 2024Article
- Reviewing the Potential of Psychedelics for the Treatment of PTSD.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2020Review
- Abuse potential and toxicity of the synthetic cathinones (i.e., "Bath salts").Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2020Review
- (±)-MDMA and its enantiomers: potential therapeutic advantages of R(-)-MDMA.Psychopharmacology · 2018Review
- Separating the agony from ecstasy: R(-)-3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine has prosocial and therapeutic-like effects without signs of neurotoxicity in mice.Neuropharmacology · 2018Article
- In vivo [¹⁸F] FDG PET imaging reveals that p-chloroamphetamine neurotoxicity is associated with long-term cortical and hippocampal hypometabolism.Molecular imaging and biology · 2015Article
- Attenuation of ecstasy-induced neurotoxicity by N-acetylcysteine.Metabolic brain disease · 2015Article
- Learning, Memory, and Executive Function in New MDMA Users: A 2-Year Follow-Up Study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2015Article
- Sex-dependent long-term effects of adolescent exposure to THC and/or MDMA on neuroinflammation and serotoninergic and cannabinoid systems in rats.British journal of pharmacology · 2014Article
- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine induces gene expression changes in rats related to serotonergic and dopaminergic systems, but not to neurotoxicity.Neurotoxicity research · 2014Article
- Behavioral and neurochemical effects of repeated MDMA administration during late adolescence in the rat.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2014Article
- Article
- Article
- 'Ecstasy' enhances noise-induced hearing loss.Hearing research · 2013Article
- Effect of repeated exposure to MDMA on the function of the 5-HT transporter as assessed by synaptosomal 5-HT uptake.Brain research bulletin · 2013Article
- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): current perspectives.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2013Review
- MDMA and 5-HT neurotoxicity: the empirical evidence for its adverse effects in humans - no need for translation.British journal of pharmacology · 2012Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
High doses of the recreational drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") have been well-documented to reduce the expression of serotonergic markers in several forebrain regions of rats and nonhuman primates. Neuroimaging studies further suggest that at least one of these markers, the plasma membrane serotonin transporter (SERT), may also be reduced in heavy Ecstasy users. Such effects, particularly when observed in experimental animal models, have generally been interpreted as reflecting a loss of serotonergic fibers and terminals following MDMA exposure. This view has been challenged, however, based on the finding that MDMA usually does not elicit glial cell reactions known to occur in response to central nervous system (CNS) damage. The aim of this review is to address both sides of the MDMA-neurotoxicity controversy, including recent findings from our laboratory regarding the potential of MDMA to induce serotonergic damage in a rat binge model. Our data add to the growing literature implicating neuroregulatory mechanisms underlying MDMA-induced serotonergic dysfunction and questioning the need to invoke a degenerative response to explain such dysfunction.
Indexed as
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.