Daily Mail - Ecstasy can produce chronic long-lasting changes to the human brain...

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edgarshade

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Ecstasy can produce chronic long-lasting changes to the human brain, say scientist

By Jessica Satherley

Last updated at 10:14 AM on 6th December 2011

With reader comments

Recreational use of Ecstasy is associated with chronic long-lasting changes in the human brain, Vanderbilt University investigators in Tennessee have discovered.

The findings, reported in the Archives of General Psychiatry, add to the growing evidence that the illegal ‘rave’ drug produces long-lasting damage to the brain’s serotonin levels, said associate professor of Psychiatry Ronald Cowan.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ng-changes-human-brain.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
 
The daily mail seem to be going on some MDMA based attack at the minute, just ignore.
 
Yup, they're really on some booze/fags/coke fuelled frenzy against MDMA! (n.b. fags=slang for cigarettes in UK)
 
Just because the Daily Mail prints it doesn't automatically make it bullshit. I'm sure the DM publishes many accurate items, like soccer results.

Abstract,

NSFW:
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2011 May;36(6):1127-41. Epub 2011 Feb 16.

Human ecstasy use is associated with increased cortical excitability: an fMRI
study.

Bauernfeind AL, Dietrich MS, Blackford JU, Charboneau EJ, Lillevig JG,
Cannistraci CJ, Woodward ND, Cao A, Watkins T, Di Iorio CR, Cascio C, Salomon RM,
Cowan RL.

Psychiatric Neuroimaging Program, Vanderbilt University Medical Center,
Nashville, TN 37212, USA.

The serotonergic neurotoxin, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA/Ecstasy), is
a highly popular recreational drug. Human recreational MDMA users have
neurocognitive and neuropsychiatric impairments, and human neuroimaging data are
consistent with animal reports of serotonin neurotoxicity. However, functional
neuroimaging studies have not found consistent effects of MDMA on brain
neurophysiology in human users. Several lines of evidence suggest that studying
MDMA effects in visual system might reveal the general cortical and subcortical
neurophysiological consequences of MDMA use. We used 3 T functional magnetic
resonance imaging during visual stimulation to compare visual system lateral
geniculate nucleus (LGN) and Brodmann Area (BA) 17 and BA 18 activation in 20
long abstinent (479.95±580.65 days) MDMA users and 20 non-MDMA user controls.
Lifetime quantity of MDMA use was strongly positively correlated with blood
oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal intensity in bilateral LGN (r(s)=0.59;
p=0.007), BA 17 (r(s)=0.50; p=0.027), and BA 18 (r(s)=0.48; p=0.031), and with
the spatial extent of activation in BA 17 (r(s)=0.059; p=0.007) and BA 18
(r(s)=0.55; p=0.013). There were no between-group differences in brain activation
in any region, but the heaviest MDMA users showed a significantly greater spatial
extent of activation than controls in BA 17 (p=0.031) and BA 18 (p=0.049). These
results suggest that human recreational MDMA use may be associated with a
long-lasting increase in cortical excitability, possibly through loss of
serotonin input to cortical and subcortical regions. When considered in the
context of previous results, cortical hyper-excitability may be a biomarker for
MDMA-induced serotonin neurotoxicity.

PMCID: PMC3079831 [Available on 2012/5/1]
PMID: 21326196 [PubMed - in process]


Seriously, don't overdo it.
 
235360287471352662 said:
Just because the Daily Mail prints it doesn't automatically make it bullshit. I'm sure the DM publishes many accurate items, like soccer results.
Seriously, don't overdo it.
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Is this not the rule with anything though? Doing TOO much of anything is never good for you, its just with all the recent articles that the Daily Mail are printing its not non-biased news reporting, its just attacking and trying to sway public opinion.
 
^^as they say, truth is the first casualty of war. My own life has been intensely and permanently improved by MDMA, but I know a few people that are emotionally off-kilter because they did way too much, and too often. I think the reams of bullshit generated by the War on Drugs made some of them disregard the actual science and genuine harm-reduction data, and they became overconfident about their ability to handle massive and frequent doses without incurring neurological damage. Judging from some of the highest-rated comments on this article, this overconfidence and dismissal of the science will persevere.
 
skillet said:
Lol, there's no way they'd get away with making up soccer results though!
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I read plenty of articles in the Daily Mail and The Sun related to football that is total fucking bullshit. They have some of the worst journalists in the world, they'll stuff their articles with their own, biased and just plain retarded opinions. You'd only know what I'm talking about if you actually lived in the UK...
 
The problem is that some people abuse drugs. They dont use drugs.

The effects of abuse are TOTALLY different from the effects of use, but the media nearly always fails to make this distinction clear.
 
lmao, saw the same story in the sun, was a small column at the back saying it MAY cause changes in the brain, wasn't over blown or sensationalised at all, was only 50 words long, straight to the point but we all knew E isn't safe.

the wording on this article is bending the truth dramatically. I hate the mail with a passion, right wing, racist and most of the time just idiotic. trouble is as it is not a red top like the sun and looks like a respectable paper, idiots actually believe what they read.

One colleague once said to me "you know the sun is all lies and bends the truth right?" i said "i guess so, I read it coz its quite entertaining, what paper do you read then" she replied "daily mail" *facepalm* I lost all respect for her opinion on topical discussions from that point.
 
I know its just re showing old research results basically even though from a new study, making a few generalizations, scaring people of permanent damage risks while not backing this up, and generally using scare tactics and misinformation. The exact opposite method of responsible harm reduction.
 
I think that even if more comprehensive "Effects of MDMA on the Brain" research is done, it will only support what I feel most of us already suppose. Namely, that occasional MDMA use does not have any significant negative impact on brain neuro-chemistry, while long term abuse certainly does.
 
Meanwhile in other news: This is your brain.......and this is your brain on alcohol!

http://www.encognitive.com/files/images/alcoholism-alcoholic-damages-brain-scan.gif

(Sorry it's just a plain link, the image embed thing thought the image URL was "bad". I'm inclined to agree ;) )

No maybe/maybe not about this research!

As you can see the face on the left looks slightly grimaced while the face on the right looks deeply unhappy.
 
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