Source: Examiner, The (Ireland) Contact: http://www.examiner.ie/ Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 1998 Pubdate: 31 October 1998 Author: John von Radowitz ECSTASY USERS RISKING BRAIN DAMAGE, SAYS US REPORT ECSTASY users could be heading for a future beset by psychiatric problems as a result of brain damage, according to research published yesterday. Findings from America suggest that many users could be risking serious and perhaps permanent brain damage, with potentially frightening consequences both for them and society. Brain scans carried out on 14 former heavy users of ecstasy revealed changes indicating damage to specific nerves that produce the vital messenger chemical serotonin. Serotonin, which carries messages between nerves, is thought to have wide ranging roles in regulating mood, memory, pain perception, sleep, appetite and sexual activity. People with psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety often lack serotonin. Anti-depressant drugs like Prozac boost levels of the chemical in the brain by preventing its re-absorption into the nerve cells. Neurologist Dr George Ricaurte and researchers from Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, Maryland, published their results in the Lancet medical journal yesterday. They write that the ''functional consequences'' of brain damage caused by ecstasy might include ''depression, anxiety, memory disturbance, and other neuro-psychiatric disorders''. Hannah Cinamon, drugs programme manager at the Health Education Authority, said: ''We hope this news will make drug users consider the long-term implications of taking ecstasy. Clues that suggested taking ecstasy might harm brain neurones had already emerged from studies of the effects of the drug's constituent chemical, MDMA, on monkeys. The work confirmed what scientists had suspected -- that recreational doses of MDMA were capable of causing lasting damage to the brain. The technique used by the scientists took five years to develop. They used a radioactive tracer to target molecules called serotonin transporters which normally re-absorb the chemical into nerve cells after it has done its job. A brain scan technique called positron emission tomography (PET) measured the tracer's uptake in the brain. The scans revealed that ecstasy users had far fewer serotonin transporters than people who did not take the drug. The greater the use of ecstasy -- and some subjects had taken it 200 or more times -- the greater the loss. Serotonin transporters lie embedded at the tips of finger-like extensions to the nerve cells called axons. These structures are crucial to normal cell function because they transmit nerve signals from one brain cell to another. The same regions of the same nerve cells are involved in releasing serotonin. Damage to the axons would therefore not only affect serotonin re-uptake, but also its release. Dr Ricaurte said: ''These losses are significant, and, along with our early studies in animals, suggest that nerve cells are damaged.'' The animal studies indicated that the losses were long-lasting and may be permanent. Some of the volunteers taking part in the new study had not taken ecstasy for several years, yet their brains still showed signs of damage. The area of damage was diffuse but included the endings of serotonin-releasing nerves that reach throughout the fore-brain. This is the ''higher'' brain area involved in thought, memory and emotion. Ecstasy is a 'designer' drug hybrid of the hallucinogen mescalin and the stimulant amphetamine. Users report a heightened sense of closeness with others, increased awareness of emotion and a greater ability to communicate. Dr Ricaurte said: ''They find these effects unique, and we hope to use this technique to explore the basis for good feelings, as well as for depression. But our immediate concern is that people who use MDMA are putting themselves at risk of developing brain injury.'' - --- Checked-by: Pat Dolan