Jeff Browndyke wrote:
>> How sociable can one be when they are dead (a common occurrance with
> bad batches of this drug)?
>> Doesn't this "burn-out" the MRN cells? No serotonin is a bad
> thing...I think?
>> Jeff
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------> Jeffrey N. Browndyke
>-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I don't know, maybe it's like the Simpson's episode they just showed
today - Jimi Hendrix and Ben Franklin playing air hockey together - maybe
the dead are more sociable than we are :) ? Seriously though, I haven't
heard of many deaths due to bad batches of Ecstasy. Most of the problems
(and deaths) that I've heard about have been due to dehydration,
overheating, etc. occurring in people at raves taking the drug and not
knowing when to quit dancing until they've overdone it.
The research I've seen suggests that it CAN, but doesn't always, destroy
cells in the various Raphe nuclei (MRN too I think). Some factors
include temperature (hyperthermia is a side effect, plus the setting -
raving or other high-intensity activity adding to it) and interaction
with other medications (studies suggesting taking SSRI's either before
[also blocks effects of X] or up to 6 hours after taking Ecstasy will
prevent neurotoxic effects). Other work has suggested neurotoxicity due
to oxidative metabolites. The upshot is, if neurotoxicity occurs, 5HT is
reduced, but not eliminated completely. There may be some recovery of
function, too, after several months, but this is still questionable. The
reduced 5HT levels, though, haven't been shown to cause any observable
deficits in hardcore users. It's probably like DA and Parkinson's -
there are no awake behavioral deficits (my advisor has some evidence of
sleep dysfunctions showing up before awake movement problems) until
something like 80% of the DA producing cells are gone. The brain seems to
have a pretty decent cushion when it comes to neurotransmitter loss.
Andrew Ray
aray at emory.edu
Emory University Neuroscience Program
PS I don't know if this will get through intact as I've been having some
problem accessing my news server (maybe it's a server problem - I'm not
sure), but if it doesn't I'll repost it later.