ArticleArchives of general psychiatry2012
Evidence for chronically altered serotonin function in the cerebral cortex of female 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine polydrug users.
Article in Archives of general psychiatry, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 12 papers.
What it found
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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.
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Who cites it
12 citing papers in PubMed, 70 citations in OpenAlex.
- Beyond ecstasy: Alternative entactogens to 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine with potential applications in psychotherapy.Journal of psychopharmacology (Oxford, England) · 2021Review
- Neuronal and peripheral damages induced by synthetic psychoactive substances: an update of recent findings from human and animal studies.Neural regeneration research · 2020Review
- Locomotor effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) and its deuterated form in mice: psychostimulant effects, stereotypy, and sensitization.Psychopharmacology · 2020Article
- The effects of ecstasy on neurotransmitter systems: a review on the findings of molecular imaging studies.Psychopharmacology · 2016Review
- fNIRS suggests increased effort during executive access in ecstasy polydrug users.Psychopharmacology · 2015Article
- Central 5-HT neurotransmission modulates weight loss following gastric bypass surgery in obese individuals.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2015Article
- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine induces gene expression changes in rats related to serotonergic and dopaminergic systems, but not to neurotoxicity.Neurotoxicity research · 2014Article
- Oscillatory serotonin function in depression.Synapse (New York, N.Y.) · 2013Review
- Human ecstasy (MDMA) polydrug users have altered brain activation during semantic processing.Psychopharmacology · 2013Article
- Brain serotonin function in MDMA (ecstasy) users: evidence for persisting neurotoxicity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2013Review
- 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): current perspectives.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2013Review
- Verbal memory deficits are correlated with prefrontal hypometabolism in (18)FDG PET of recreational MDMA users.PloS one · 2013Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
Abstract
contextMDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, also popularly known as "ecstasy") is a popular recreational drug that produces loss of serotonin axons in animal models. Whether MDMA produces chronic reductions in serotonin signaling in humans remains controversial.
objectiveTo determine whether MDMA use is associated with chronic reductions in serotonin signaling in the cerebral cortex of women as reflected by increased serotonin(2A) receptor levels.
designCross-sectional case-control study comparing serotonin(2A) receptor levels in abstinent female MDMA polydrug users with those in women who did not use MDMA (within-group design assessing the association of lifetime MDMA use and serotonin(2A) receptors). Case participants were abstinent from MDMA use for at least 90 days as verified by analysis of hair samples. The serotonin(2A) receptor levels in the cerebral cortex were determined using serotonin(2A)-specific positron emission tomography with radioligand fluorine 18-labeled setoperone as the tracer.
settingAcademic medical center research laboratory.
participantsA total of 14 female MDMA users and 10 women who did not use MDMA (controls). The main exclusion criteria were nondrug-related DSM-IV Axis I psychiatric disorders and general medical illness.
main outcome measuresCortical serotonin(2A) receptor nondisplaceable binding potential (serotonin(2A)BP(ND)).
resultsMDMA users had increased serotonin(2A)BP(ND) in occipital-parietal (19.7%), temporal (20.5%), occipitotemporal-parietal (18.3%), frontal (16.6%), and frontoparietal (18.5%) regions (corrected P < .05). Lifetime MDMA use was positively associated with serotonin(2A)BP(ND) in frontoparietal (β = 0.665; P = .007), occipitotemporal (β = 0.798; P = .002), frontolimbic (β = 0.634; P = .02), and frontal (β = 0.691; P = .008) regions. In contrast, there were no regions in which MDMA use was inversely associated with receptor levels. There were no statistically significant effects of the duration of MDMA abstinence on serotonin(2A)BP(ND).
conclusionsThe recreational use of MDMA is associated with long-lasting increases in serotonin(2A) receptor density. Serotonin(2A) receptor levels correlate positively with lifetime MDMA use and do not decrease with abstinence. These results suggest that MDMA use produces chronic serotonin neurotoxicity in humans. Given the broad role of serotonin in human brain function, the possibility for therapeutic MDMA use, and the widespread recreational popularity of this drug, these results have critical public health implications.
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