Pubdate: Fri, 27 Sep 2002
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Page: A9
Copyright: 2002, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Anne McIlroy, Science Reporter
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/mdma.htm (Ecstasy)

DRUG ECSTASY COULD DAMAGE USERS' BRAINS, RESEARCH SAYS

Studies Using Monkeys, Baboons Suggest Greater Risk Of Developing Parkinsonism

Ecstasy, the club drug popular at all-night dance parties, may do serious 
damage to the brain.

Research published today in the journal Science suggests that young people 
who pop two or three ecstasy pills in one evening may kill a vast number of 
brain cells and put themselves at risk of neurological disorders later in 
life. The study, on monkeys and baboons, suggests that one night on the 
drug may be enough to do the damage.

"Young adults may be increasing their risk for developing Parkinsonism, a 
condition with symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease," said George 
Ricaurte of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.

Ecstasy, a stimulant also known as MDMA, is cheap and easy to buy, and many 
young people believe it is safe because there are no immediate harmful 
effects. Dr. Ricaurte's research may spoil the party.

He gave squirrel monkeys three doses of the drug in a row, similar, he 
says, to the amounts human recreational users take. Three weeks later he 
looked at their brains, examining in particular the area where neurons 
produce the chemical dopamine. Dopamine carries messages between brain 
cells and helps control movement, emotional and cognitive responses and the 
ability to feel pleasure. Ecstasy killed 60 to 80 per cent of the 
dopamine-producing neurons in the part of the brain where they are clustered.

The researchers were surprised by the results, so they tried the experiment 
in five baboons. Those also lost a significant percentage of their 
dopamine-producing cells.

The drug clearly is bad for monkeys and baboons, but does that mean it will 
hurt humans?

"We can't be absolutely sure that the animal data will generalize to human 
beings," Dr. Ricaurte said. "But based on what we know so far, that is our 
concern."

Other researchers said that too many conclusions are being drawn from 
flawed research, and it is a stretch to link Parkinsonism to the drug. 
Parkinsonism, which causes tremors and other symptoms of Parkinson's 
disease, is known to occur with an 80-to-90-per-cent loss of dopamine.

"Dr. Ricaurte's study does not predict anything about human vulnerability 
to Parkinson's as a result of using MDMA," said Juan Sanchez-Ramoz, a 
neurology professor at the University of South Florida.

There is evidence that ecstasy acts differently in different species. It 
destroys dopamine neurons in mice, but rats are spared any damage, said 
Stephen Kish, a researcher at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health 
and an associate professor at the University of Toronto.

Dr. Kish is working on a study of Parkinsonism in ecstasy users, but said 
he won't be ready to release his findings for a year. He has published data 
about the brain of 26-year-old man who used ecstasy for nine years and died 
with it in his system. There was no sign of damage to the man's 
dopamine-producing cells.

When ecstasy first became trendy on college campuses in the 1980s, people 
generally took one or two doses a month. Now it is popular on the rave 
scene, and users pop three pills in an evening.

Dr. Kish's earlier work shows that ecstasy damages parts of the brain that 
produce serotonin, another chemical that carries messages between neurons. 
Serotonin is believed to help regulate mood and behaviour. His animal 
studies have shown damage to the serotonin-producing neurons to be 
long-lasting, but not as severe as the damage he found in the 
dopamine-producing brain cells. It has not yet been established that the 
damage is permanent.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager