Article: Ecstasy as a brain booster for Parkinson's?

[phase_dancer]

This is taken from link in a similar thread in Advanced DD titled Grob Research- MDMA for Neural Growth?. Since many of you may not frequent the forum, here's the New Scientist article linked to by bigmac74.

Ecstasy as a brain booster for Parkinson's?

* 27 October 2006
* NewScientist.com news service

It could be a rave result for people with Parkinson's. It seems that ecstasy boosts the number of dopamine-producing cells in the brain - the type that decline in those with the disease. Or so rat studies suggest.

Previous human studies have suggested that ecstasy is bad for the brain because it damages serotonin signalling neurons, which play a role in memory. When Jack Lipton of the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues gave pregnant rats the drug they found no signs of damage in newborn pups.

Instead, they saw a threefold rise in the number of dopamine producing cells. These cells were also more highly branched and developed than normal, suggesting they functioned better.

Similarly, when cultured embryonic dopamine cells were exposed to ecstasy, roughly three times as many cells survived. The effect didn't vary much with increasing concentration, although particularly high doses did kill the brain cells.

Lipton believes that ecstasy prevents the programmed cell death that normally occurs when neurons are stressed, as happens in certain degenerative diseases including Parkinson's, and in cell cultures.

Lipton suggests that some promising new ecstasy-like drugs might one day be used to boost dopamine-producing cells in people with Parkinson's - without damaging other neurons in the brain. The work was presented at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.

From here

While the findings in the above article have not yet been published in a peer reviewed journal, it certainly looks promising on what's been presented so far. If it is validated, what will prove interesting is if an effective non-euphoric analogue can't be developed. Will the FDA then be able to justify denying Parkinson's patients the right for a better life with MDMA?

If correct, these findings also fly in the face of some of the most esteemed parkinson's researchers who, while being stunned with MDMA's ability to temporarily reverse Parkinson's symptoms in a patient (Tim Lawrence), warned that MDMA would likely destroy the few remaining functional dopamine cells.

Here's the article on Tim that appeared in New Scientist in 2002. A TV prog titled "Ecstasy and Agony" also aired on ABC TV around the same time. If anyone has access to that program, I'd suggest watching it. The before and after footage is truly amazing.

Ecstasy has dramatic effect on Parkinson's symptoms

Source: New Scientist
Date: 6 November 2002

Ecstasy is being hailed as the key to better treatments for the Parkinson's disease, marking a complete turnaround from a few weeks ago when ecstasy was condemned for causing the disease.

New animal studies have confirmed anecdotal reports that ecstasy can dramatically curb the uncontrollable arm and leg movements that plague so many people with Parkinson's. But the finding may be of little immediate help to sufferers.

The researchers are not calling for patients to be given legal supplies of ecstasy (MDMA). Instead, they want to look for related drugs with the same beneficial effects. And patients are being warned against trying MDMA for themselves. "It's impure, illegal and dangerous," says Robert Meadowcroft, policy director of Britain's Parkinson's Disease Society.

Others are calling for further animal studies to establish the effective dose, followed by human trials. "People who are suffering should have the right to decide carefully for themselves whether or not to take MDMA," says American drugs policy campaigner Rick Doblin. His organisation, MAPS, recently won approval from the Food and Drug Administration for a human trial of ecstasy for treating post-traumatic stress disorder.


Regaining control

The latest study was prompted by the experiences of a former stuntman, Tim Lawrence. He made headlines when he claimed in a BBC TV documentary that "E" enabled him to regain control of his body for hours at a time.

Parkinson's experts at the University of Manchester decided to test Lawrence's claims. Concerns about the dangers of MDMA ruled out human trials, says team member Jonathan Brotchie, who now runs Manchester-based biotech company Motac. So the researchers turned to marmosets with a form of the disease.

Parkinson's is caused by a loss of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain. Symptoms include rigidity and a shuffling gait. Since the late 1960s doctors have treated it with L-dopa, a chemical precursor to dopamine that can "unfreeze" patients.

The downside is that patients develop uncontrollable movements after taking L-dopa for a while. Their condition tends to oscillates between flailing limbs while on the drug and immobility off it.

To mimic Parkinson's, they gave six marmosets a chemical that kills dopamine neurons. Then, over the next few months, the monkeys had daily doses of L-dopa until they developed the usual side effect of uncontrolled movements. At this point the animals were given MDMA.

Dramatic effects

The effects were dramatic. Normally, monkeys on L-dopa move their arms and legs around in a repetitive and uncontrolled way virtually all the time. But in the six hours after a dose of MDMA, these movements happened no more than 15 per cent of the time. MDMA somehow reduces the debilitating side effects of L-dopa without blocking its beneficial effects.

"The magnitude and quality of the effect took us by surprise," says Brotchie, whose team's findings were unveiled this week at the conference of the Society for Neuroscience in Florida. "It was always possible that Tim's response to ecstasy was unusual."

The researchers suspect the finding reflects MDMA's ability to stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain. That might make up for a lack of serotonin caused by taking L-dopa for prolonged periods, says Brotchie. However, there are fears that MDMA can damage serotonin-producing cells.

And last month the journal Science published a paper claiming that MDMA can actually cause the type of damage to dopamine cells that can lead to Parkinson's. But the evidence was far from conclusive.

David Concar

From here


The last 2 sentences refered to the later retracted findings by Ricaurte et al, where it was initially claimed MDMA could cause dopamine neurotoxicity The retracted paper. Dr Ricaurte on putative MDMA Many BLers will be aware the problem arose when other researchers couldn't reproduce Ricaurte's results. Ricaurte later admitted that the research was flawed because the MDMA used in the study had been mistakingly [?] switched for methamphetamine.

 

[Negcreep]

Amazing