Effect of ambient temperature on hyperthermia and hyperkinesis induced by 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") in rats.

A stress-free, biotelemetric monitoring technique was used to investigate the effects of ambient temperature (Ta) on the hyperthermic and hyperkinetic effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine. In the first experiment a single injection of 5.0 or 7.5 mg/kg MDMA produced hyperthermia in rats maintained at a Ta of 24 degrees C but hypothermia in rats maintained at a Ta of 11 degrees C for 24 h prior to the injection. In contrast, hyperkinesis was induced at both Tas. In the second experiment, the effects of acute MDMA administration was compared in rats maintained at a standard Ta of 24 degrees C and in rats which were placed in a cool (11 degrees C) room for a brief (90-min) period commencing 30 min after the injection. The brief exposure to the cool environment produced significant attenuation of MDMA-induced hyperthermia but did not affect the magnitude of hyperkinesis. The implications of the results for the understanding of the thermotoxic effects of MDMA in human drug users are discussed.

Persistent loss of thermoregulation in the rat induced by 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy") but not by fenfluramine.

Using radio-biotelemetry, the timecourse of recovery and sensitivity to ambient temperature (Ta) of the thermogenic response of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "Ecstasy") was examined. Ambient temperatures of 17 and 22 degrees C produced very different response profiles, with the lower temperature producing a hypothermic response to 10 and 15 mg/kg doses of MDMA, and the higher temperature producing a profound hyperthermia to the same doses. Although the peak responses to the drug had subsided within 5 h of administration, residual effects, in the form of an elevation of body temperature during the "low" phase of the diurnal cycle, were present for a further 48 h. Long-lasting disruption of the thermoregulatory system following a short series of MDMA administrations (10 mg/kg once per day for 4 days) was shown by exposing the rats in the undrugged state to a thermoregulatory challenge, consisting of 60-min exposure to a Ta of 30 degrees C, at 1 week before, and at 4 weeks and 14 weeks after the drug administration. MDMA-treated rats showed a prolonged hyperthermic response to the challenge at both post-drug intervals compared with fenfluramine-treated rats and saline-treated controls. Thus, the results indicate both that MDMA's thermogenic effects are more sensitive to Ta than previously demonstrated, and that the serotonergic neurotoxicity of the drug may produce long-lasting changes in thermoregulatory mechanisms.

Level of use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy) in humans correlates with EEG power and coherence.

RATIONALE: Despite animal studies implicating 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or Ecstasy) in serotonergic neurotoxicity, there is little direct evidence of changes in neural function in humans who use MDMA as a recreational drug. OBJECTIVE: The present study investigated whether there is a correlation between quantitative EEG variables (spectral power and coherence) and cognitive/mood variables, and level of prior use of MDMA. METHODS: Twenty-three recreational MDMA users were studied. Resting EEG was recorded with eyes closed, using a 128-electrode geodesic net system, from which spectral power, peak frequency and coherence levels were calculated. Tests of intelligence (NART), immediate and delayed memory, frontal function (card sort task), and mood (BDI and PANAS scales) were also administered. Pearson correlation analyses were used to examine the relationship between these measures and the subject's consumption of MDMA during the previous 12-month period. Partial correlation was used to control for the use of other recreational drugs. RESULTS: MDMA use was positively correlated with absolute power in the alpha (8-12 Hz) and beta (12-20 Hz) frequency bands, but not with the delta (1-3 Hz) or theta (4-7 Hz) bands. MDMA use was negatively correlated with EEG coherence, a measure of synchrony between paired cortical locations, in posterior brain sites thought to overly the main visual association pathways of the occipito-parietal region. MDMA use did not correlate significantly with any of the mood/cognitive measures except the card sort task, with which it was weakly negatively correlated. CONCLUSIONS: Alpha power has been shown to be inversely related to mental function and has been used as an indirect measure of brain activation in both normal and abnormal states. Reduced coherence levels have been associated with dysfunctional connectivity in the brain in disorders such as dementia, white-matter disease and normal aging. Our results may indicate altered brain function correlated with prior MDMA use, and show that electroencephalography may be a cheap and effective tool for examining neurotoxic effects of MDMA and other drugs.

MDMA and fenfluramine alter the response of the circadian clock to a serotonin agonist in vitro.

The substituted amphetamine drugs, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or 'Ecstasy') and fenfluramine, are known to damage 5-HT neurons in the brain of animals. However, little is known about the drugs' effects on circadian rhythmicity which is known to be influenced by serotonergic input to the suprachiasmatic nuclei. In the present study, we tested the ability of MDMA and fenfluramine treatment to alter the ability of the circadian clock to reset in response to an agonist of the 5-HT1A and 5-HT7 receptor subtypes soon after treatment with the drugs, and then again at 20 weeks. Coronal hypothalamic slices containing the suprachiasmatic nuclei (SCN) were prepared from rats and 3-min recordings of the firing rate of individual cells were performed throughout a 12-h period. The ability of the 5-HT agonist, 8-hydroxy-2-(dipropylamino)tetralin (8-OH-DPAT), to cause a phase advance in the firing pattern of SCN neurons was assessed in slices from control animals and those pretreated with MDMA or fenfluramine (10, 15 and 20 mg/kg administered on successive days) 6-10 days or 20 weeks previously. Phase advances to 8-OH-DPAT in the slice were attenuated by pretreatment with MDMA or fenfluramine at both drug-test intervals. Our study demonstrates that repeated exposure to MDMA or fenfluramine may interfere with the ability of serotonin to phase shift the circadian clock in the rat. It is possible that such an effect may be responsible for some of the clinical changes, such as sleep disorders and mood changes, sometimes reported by human users of the substituted amphetamines.

Interaction of circadian rhythm and opiate-induced thermic and kinetic responses: a biotelemetric investigation.

The thermic and kinetic effects of a low dose of morphine sulphate (5mg/kg) were monitored using a remote biotelemetric procedure. Drug and control (saline) injections were administered at two times of day, during the high and low phases of the circadian temperature/activity cycle respectively. Standard measures of the responses revealed that the effect of a dose of morphine differs significantly according to the phase of the circadian rhythm in which it is administered. In contrast to previous studies employing standard stress-inducing rectal probing techniques of temperature measurement, the direction and time-course of thermic and kinetic responses were uncorrelated. The implications for research on physiological and behavioral drug effects and for theories of drug tolerance/dependence are considered.

Associate and non-associative tolerance to morphine: support for a dual-process habituation model.

Some unique predictions of a dual-process habituation model of morphine analgesic tolerance were examined concerning the interactions of drug-signal conditions and dose/frequency parameters. The model assumes that tolerance is the result of a combination of associative and non-associative habituation mechanisms which are differentially affected by dose and drug-signal conditions. In accordance with predictions of the model, low doses and long interdrug intervals (IDI's) resulted in faster tolerance acquisition, greater tolerance retention, and higher levels of associative tolerance, than high doses and short IDI's. Alternative accounts of tolerance based on Pavlovian conditioning mechanisms cannot explain this pattern of results. The question of generality of these findings to other drugs and other response measures is discussed.

Hyperthermia following MDMA administration in rats: effects of ambient temperature, water consumption, and chronic dosing.

In two experiments it was found that the hyperthermia which follows MDMA ("Ecstasy") results from an interaction of direct pharmacological effect of the drug and the prevailing environmental conditions in which it is administered. In Experiment 1, rats given fixed doses of either 2.5, 5.0 or 7.5 mg/kg MDMA or saline were injected on different days at ambient temperatures (Ta's) of 11, 24, and 30 degrees C. At each Ta drinking water was freely available following dosing on one session and temporarily unavailable on a second. The hyperthermic and hyperkinetic responses were monitored using remote biotelemetry. Experiment 2 used a between-subject design in which each group of rats received a standard 7.5 mg/kg dose of MDMA administered at only one of the three levels of Ta(24 degrees C) and at only one level of the water-availability factor. Dosing in some groups was continued for a further 13 days to test for tolerance or sensitization effects. Ambient temperature significantly affected the magnitude of the hyperthermia but not the hyperkinesis. Water deprivation during the drugged period significantly augmented the hyperthermia, but only in the high Ta (30 degrees C.) condition. Chronic dosing produced sensitization of both hyperthermic and hyperkinetic responses. The findings indicate that ambient temperature, water consumption and frequency of drug use affect the hyperthermia which follows MDMA administration.