Trial reportBritish journal of pharmacology2013
Inhibition of MDMA-induced increase in cortisol does not prevent acute impairment of verbal memory.
Trial report in British journal of pharmacology, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 4 of them syntheses 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
14 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 22 citations in OpenAlex.
- Cognitive functioning associated with acute and subacute effects of classic psychedelics and MDMA - a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The effects of licit and illicit recreational drugs on prospective memory: a meta-analytic review.Psychopharmacology · 2019Pooled it
- Pooled it
- No evidence that MDMA-induced enhancement of emotional empathy is related to peripheral oxytocin levels or 5-HT1a receptor activation.PloS one · 2014Trial
- Subjective and neurocognitive profiling of clinical doses of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) in healthy volunteers: implications for therapeutic use.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Review
- The acute effects of psychoactive drugs on emotional episodic memory encoding, consolidation, and retrieval: A comprehensive review.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2023Review
- Understanding the Mechanisms of Action and Effects of Drugs of Abuse.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Mephedrone and Alcohol Interactions in Humans.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
- Peripheral endocannabinoid concentrations are not associated with verbal memory impairment during MDMA intoxication.Psychopharmacology · 2018Article
- Depressive mood ratings are reduced by MDMA in female polydrug ecstasy users homozygous for the l-allele of the serotonin transporter.Scientific reports · 2018Article
- MDMA-Induced Dissociative State not Mediated by the 5-HTFrontiers in pharmacology · 2017Article
- The prosocial effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA): Controlled studies in humans and laboratory animals.Neuroscience and biobehavioral reviews · 2015Review
- Changes in serotonin transporter (5-HTT) gene expression in peripheral blood cells after MDMA intake.Psychopharmacology · 2015Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundEcstasy use is commonly linked with memory deficits in abstinent ecstasy users. Similar impairments are being found during ecstasy intoxication after single doses of ± 3,4 metylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). The concordance of memory impairments during intoxication and abstinence suggests a similar neuropharmacological mechanism underlying acute and chronic memory impairments. The mechanism underlying this impairment is to date not known. We hypothesized that cortisol might play an important role in this mechanism as cortisol, implicated in the regulation of memory performance, can be brought out of balance by stressors like MDMA.
methodsIn the present study, we aimed to block the MDMA-induced acute memory defect by giving participants a cortisol synthesis inhibitor (metyrapone) together with a single dose of MDMA. Seventeen polydrug MDMA users entered this placebo-controlled within subject study with four treatment conditions. The treatments consisted of MDMA (75 mg) and metyrapone (750 mg), alone and in combination, and double placebo. Pre-treatment with metyrapone or Placebo occurred 1 h prior to MDMA or Placebo administration. Memory performance was tested at peak drug concentrations by means of several memory tests. Cortisol levels were determined in blood and oral fluid; this served as a control measure to see whether manipulations were effective.
resultsMain findings indicated that whereas treatment with metyrapone blocked the expected MDMA-induced increase in cortisol levels in blood, it did not prevent the MDMA-induced memory deficit from happening.
conclusionWe therefore conclude that MDMA-induced increments in cortisol concentrations are not related to MDMA-induced memory impairments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.