Ecstasy methylenedioxymethamphetamine

Cocaine is obtained from the coca tree (Erythroxylon coca). It has had a legitimate medical use as a local anaesthetic but has now been superseded by more effective and safer agents. Ecstasy, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), is a synthetic amphetamine with no medical use. 

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA ecstasy) is a synthetic analog of amphetamine that produces hallucinations, an elevation in mood, and a feeling of emotional closeness . This latter property has led to Ecstasy being referred to as the hug drag . The unique properties of Ecstasy as compared to the parent compound amphetamine are believed to be due to the more selective effects of Ecstasy in promoting transporter-mediated release of serotonin. The use of Ecstasy has become a part of the culture associated with rave style dance parties. 

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), known by the street names ecstasy, XTC, X, Adam, clarity, and lover s speed, was synthesized in 1914 as an appetite suppressant but was never marketed. In the early 1970s, it appeared on the U.S. drug scene under various street names. More recently, the name ecstasy has become synonymous fot MDMA, even in the scien-... 

Ricaurte GA, McCann UD, Szabo Z, et al Toxicodynamics and long-term toxicity of the recreational drug 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy ). Toxicol Lett 112-113 143-146, 2000 Robinson TN, Killen JD, Taylor CB, et al Perspectives on adolescent substance use a defined population study. JAMA 258 2072-2076, 1987 Rubinstein JS Abuse of antiparkinson drugs feigning of extrapyramidal symptoms to obtain trihexyphenidyl. JAMA 239 2365, 1978 Rumack BH (ed) LSD, in Poisindex, Vol 54. Denver, CO, Micromedex, 1987 Rusyniak DE, Banks ML, Mills EM, et al Dantrolene use in 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( ecstasy )-medicated hyperthermia (letter). Anesthesiology 10 263, 2004... 

McGuire PK, Cope H, Fahy TA Diversity of Psychopathology associated with use of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( Ecstasy ). Br J Psychiatry 165 391—395, 1994 Miotto K, Roth B GHB Withdrawal. Austin, TX, Texas Commission on Alcohol and Drug Abuse, 2001. Available at http //www.tcada.state.tx.us/research/popula-tions/GHB Withdrawal.pdf. Accessed Fehruary 28, 2003. 

Ricaurte GA, Yuan J, McCann UD +/- 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( ecstasy )-induced serotonin neurotoxicity studies in animals. Neuropsychobiology 42 5-10, 2000... 

Scrima L, Hartman PG, Johnson EH, et al The effects of gamma-hydroxybutyrate on the sleep of narcolepsy patients a double blind study. Sleep 13 479 90, 1990 Series F, Series 1, Cormier Y Effects of enhancing slow-wave sleep by gamma-hydroxybutyrate on obstructive sleep apnea. Am Rev Respir Dis 143 1378-1383, 1992 Shannon M Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy ). Pediatr Emerg Care 16 377-380, 2000... 

Tucker GT, Lennard MS, Ellis SW, et al The demethylation of methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( ecstasy ) by debrisoquine hydroxylase (CYP2D6). Bio-chem Pharmacol 47 1131—1156, 1994... 

In other respects the storage of 5-HT resembles that of noradrenaline with its uptake by vesicles resting on energy-dependent, vesicular monoamine transporters (VMATs) (see Chapter 8). Functional disruption of this transporter, either through competitive inhibition (e.g. by methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy )) or dissipation... 

MAO has been inhibited. As a result, transmitter accumulates in the cytoplasm and is exported into the synapse via the membrane-bound transporter. The ensuing (impulse-independent) sympathetic arousal can be disastrous, culminating in a hypertensive crisis and stroke. Although this process is a pharmacological curiosity and certainly contributed to the demise of MAOIs, it is possibly overrated (Tyrer 1979) it has been estimated that the number of deaths associated with the use of the MAOI, tranylcypromine, amounts to only 1 per 14000 patient years. However, this sequence of events echoes exactly the acute actions of methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy ) and undoubtedly accounts for some of the deaths attributed to this drug. 

There is virtually no one who is involved in drug abuse research, or who studies the properties of recreationally used drugs, that is not by now familiar with 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (figure 1). Over the past 4 years this substance, usually referred to in the popular press as Ecstasy, has received widespread media attention. This chapter will relate recent findings with respect to the potential dangers attendant on the use of MDMA and explore its pharmacological properties. 

Recent controversy about the recreational abuse and potential therapeutic use of designer drugs has focused attention on MDA (methylenedioxyampheta-mine HCl) and structurally related phenylisopropylamine compounds, including MDMA istructural analogs of the psychomotor stimulant amphetamine and the hallucinogen mescaline, and produce stimulant and/or hallucinogenic effects (Shulgin 1978). 

Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or Ecstasy ) is an illicit drug used by young adults who attend rave dance parties in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere. The allure of MDMA is related to its unique psychoactive effects, which include amphetamine-like stimulant actions, coupled with feelings of increased emotional sensitivity and closeness to others.1-2 Epidemiological data indicate that MDMA misuse among children and adolescents is widespread in the U.S.3-4 In... 

Setola, V., Hufeisen, S.J., Grande-Alien, K.J., Vesely, I., Glennon, R.A., Blough, B., Rothman, R.B., and Roth, B.L., 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy ) induces fenfluraminelike proliferative actions on human cardiac valvular interstitial cells in vitro, Mol. Pharmacol. 63(6), 1223-1229, 2003. 

Lyles, J. and Cadet, J.L., Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy) neurotoxicity cellular and molecular mechanisms, Brain Res. Brain Res. Rev. 42(2), 155-168, 2003. 

Liechti, M.E. and Vollenweider, F.X., The serotonin uptake inhibitor citalopram reduces acute cardiovascular and vegetative effects of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ( Ecstasy ) in healthy volunteers, J. Psychopharmacol. 14(3), 269-274, 2000. 

Schechter, M.D., Serotonergic-dopaminergic mediation of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy ), Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 31(4), 817-824, 1988. 

Gerra, G., Zaimovic, A., Ferri, M., Zambelli, U., Timpano, M., Neri, E., Marzocchi, G.F., Delsignore, R., and Brambilla, F., Long-lasting effects of (+/-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (ecstasy) on serotonin system function in humans, Biol. Psychiatry 47(2), 127-136, 2000. 

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