Transcript Ecstasy Damages Brain Serotonin Neurons

Ecstasy Damages Brain
Serotonin Neurons
Presented by Michelle Dupre
Biology Department
Eastern Connecticut State University
Positron emission tomographic evidence of toxic
effect of MDMA (“Ecstasy”) on brain serotonin
neurons in human beings.
Article written by:
U.D McCann, Z. Szabo, U. Scheffel, R. F. Dannals, G. A. Ricaurte
The Lancet 1998 352: 1433-37
What do we know about Ecstasy?
Transport of serotonin
Previous findings…
Animals show losses in serotonin markers
Doses parellel human doses
Previous studies use cerebrospinal fluid
Positron Emission Tomography (PET)
Neuroimaging technique
Attaches to face masks
11C
Labels serotonin
transporter
Detects status of neurons
in the brain
The Experiment
• Experimental group
• Control group
• PET scanning
What were they looking for?
1) Differences in serotonin transport sites.
2) The relationship between MDMA use and binding.
3) Overall brain activity
MDMA users have
lower densities of 5-HT
transporter sites.
Direct
relationship
between MDMA
use and decrease
in 5-HT binding.
What does this all mean????
DEATH
16 years old
23 years old
18 years old