ArticleScience translational medicine2019
Distinct neural mechanisms for the prosocial and rewarding properties of MDMA.
Article in Science translational medicine, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 63 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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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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.
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Who cites it
63 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 113 citations in OpenAlex.
- MDMA-assisted psychotherapy for the treatment of PTSD: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs).Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2024Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis of how social memory is studied.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- MDMA and memory, addiction, and depression: dose-effect analysis.Psychopharmacology · 2022Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of the MDMA Model to Address Social Impairment in Autism.Current neuropharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- The 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine enhances early visual processing for salient socio-emotional stimuli.The European journal of neuroscience · 2024Trial
- Anesthesia unconsciousness recruits dynamic parabrachial activity within a distributed brain-wide ensemble.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Loss of oxytocin receptor function disrupts neural signatures of pair bonding and fidelity in the nucleus accumbens.Nature communications · 2026Article
- History, pharmacology and therapeutic mechanisms of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA).British journal of pharmacology · 2026Review
- Social touch-like tactile stimulation alleviates stress-induced anxiety-like behavior by enhancing the oxytocin level in the prefrontal cortex.Neurobiology of stress · 2026Article
- TRACT assay-based in vitro characterization of substituted cathinones: inhibition and release at the serotonin transporter.Archives of toxicology · 2026Article
- Stereoselective, sex-dependent 5-HTNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The serotonin 1B receptor is required for some of the behavioral effects of psilocybin in mice.Molecular psychiatry · 2026Article
- Serotonin modulates nucleus accumbens circuits to suppress aggression in mice.Nature communications · 2026Article
- The entactogen MDMA (3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine, "Ecstasy") disrupts helping behaviour while reinforcing electrophysiological indicators of potentially associated synaptic plasticity in male Sprague-Dawley rats.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Article
- Next-Generation MDMA Analogue SDMA: Pharmacological and Metabolic Insights.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2025Article
- Serotonin modulates nucleus accumbens circuits to suppress aggression.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- 5-HTMolecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Ketamine Evokes Acute Behavioral Effects Via μ Opioid Receptor-Expressing Neurons of the Central Amygdala.Biological psychiatry · 2025Article
- Pharmacological Evaluation of Tropane Analogues at the Serotonin Transporter.ACS chemical neuroscience · 2025Article
3 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The extensively abused recreational drug (±)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) has shown promise as an adjunct to psychotherapy for treatment-resistant psychiatric disease. It is unknown, however, whether the mechanisms underlying its prosocial therapeutic effects and abuse potential are distinct. We modeled both the prosocial and nonsocial drug reward of MDMA in mice and investigated the mechanism of these processes using brain region-specific pharmacology, transgenic manipulations, electrophysiology, and in vivo calcium imaging. We demonstrate in mice that MDMA acting at the serotonin transporter within the nucleus accumbens is necessary and sufficient for MDMA's prosocial effect. MDMA's acute rewarding properties, in contrast, require dopaminergic signaling. MDMA's prosocial effect requires 5-HT1b receptor activation and is mimicked by
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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.