106 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
106 lines
4.8 KiB
Plaintext
From: lamontg@u.washington.edu (Lamont Granquist)
|
|
Newsgroups: alt.drugs
|
|
Subject: New info on MDMA neurotoxicity
|
|
Date: 1 Apr 1994 21:57:24 GMT
|
|
Message-ID: <2ni5c4$nq1@news.u.washington.edu>
|
|
|
|
this is from my e-mail (fwd w/permission)...
|
|
|
|
From rickmaps@aol.com Fri Apr 1 13:54:00 1994
|
|
>Date: Fri, 01 Apr 94 00:21:22 EST
|
|
>From: rickmaps@aol.com
|
|
>To: lamontg@u.washington.edu
|
|
>Subject: Re: MDMA References
|
|
>
|
|
>Lamont,
|
|
>
|
|
>You already have virtually all the essential information. The Ricaurte
|
|
>primate study is unpublished, so its not surprising that you didn't find
|
|
>anything written about it. Here is the section of the IND application Sasha
|
|
>referred to:
|
|
>
|
|
>Ricaurte (personal communication,1992) and associates at Johns Hopkins
|
|
>University recently completed the data analysis portion of a primate study
|
|
>which for the first time has identified a no-effect level for MDMA
|
|
>neurotoxicity. The study involved six primates, three controls and three
|
|
>experimental animals who received an oral administration of 2.5 mg/kg of MDMA
|
|
>once every two weeks for four months (8x). Eight brain regions were examined
|
|
>for 5-HT and 5-HIAA content. There were no significant differences between
|
|
>experimental and control animals in any of the brain regions studied. Since a
|
|
>previous study by Ricaurte (1988a) has shown that a single oral dose of 5.0
|
|
>mg/kg causes neurotoxicity only in the thalamus and hypothalamus, this
|
|
>study demonstrates that the primate no-effect level lies somewhere between
|
|
>2.5 and 5.0 mg /kg.
|
|
>
|
|
>Here is something else from that application:
|
|
>
|
|
>H
|
|
>uman study of response of MDMA users to DMT
|
|
>
|
|
> Strassman (personal communication,1992) recently completed an FDA-approved
|
|
>human study in which the physiological and psychological responses of ele
|
|
>ven subjects to various i.v. doses of DMT were studied. Physiological
|
|
>measures included x-endorphin, ACTH, prolactin, corticol, growth hormone,
|
|
>baseline and maximum rise temperature and pupil diameter responses.
|
|
>Psychological measures included the Profile of Mood States (POMS) and the
|
|
>Hallucinogenic Rat
|
|
>ing Scale (HRS) developed specifically for this experiment.
|
|
>
|
|
> Subjects were divided in
|
|
>to two groups, "MDMA Positive" and "MDMA Negative". The "MDMA Positive"
|
|
>group included six subjects who had taken MDMA five or more times. Not
|
|
>including one of those had taken MDMA 75
|
|
>-100 times, the average exposure for the "MDMA Positive" group was about
|
|
>10x. The "MD
|
|
>MA Negative" group included the remaining five subjects had taken MDMA never
|
|
>or only once, with an
|
|
>average exposure of less than 1x.
|
|
>
|
|
> Analysis of the physiological measurements revealed no
|
|
> significant differences between the groups in x-endorphin, ACTH, prolactin,
|
|
>corticol, growth hormone, baseline and maximum rise temperature responses,
|
|
>across all four doses of DMT and placebo. The standard analytic tool was
|
|
>ANOVA with repeated measures. The only significant difference between the "
|
|
>MDMA Positive" and "MDMA Negative" groups was that the maximum change in
|
|
>pupil diameter relative to baseline was less in the positives than the
|
|
>negatives, across all doses of drug/placebo.
|
|
> Dr. Strassman noted "If one believes that 5-HT2 receptors in the eye
|
|
>mediate the effect of DMT
|
|
>on pupil size, then this is oppostive what one would expect; i.e. if
|
|
>"denervation hypersensitivity"
|
|
> occurred, one would expect more robust pupil dilation. The pupil data was
|
|
>the least complete (people were reluctant to open their eyes during the
|
|
>period of DMT intoxication), thus ANOVA without repea
|
|
>ted measurements was used as a less than ideal tool."
|
|
>
|
|
> Analysis of the psychological data showed no significant differences in the
|
|
>POMS given both before and after the injections of DMT. Rega
|
|
>rding the HRS, no differences were noted in responses for any of the 6
|
|
>factors between the "MDMA P
|
|
>ositive" and "MDMA Negative" groups across all doses of DMT/placebo; neither
|
|
>were there any interaction effects.
|
|
>
|
|
>
|
|
>The most important paper you have missed is by O'Callaghan, in NIDA
|
|
>Monograph # 136, Assessing Neurotoxicity of Drugs of Abuse. Its available for
|
|
>free from the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (301)
|
|
>468-2600, or 800 729-6686. The paper discusses data that suggests that
|
|
>lowered serotonin levels do not always reflect neurotoxicity.
|
|
>
|
|
>Also, have you seen Charlie Grob's paper in Journal of Nervous and Mental
|
|
>Disease, Vol. 180, No. 6, June, 1992, p. 345-356 ?
|
|
>
|
|
>I'd be curious to learn of your estimation of the neurotoxic risk of MDMA.
|
|
>
|
|
>Also, in case you are interested you are invited to join MAPS. The address
|
|
>is 1801 Tippah Avenue, Charlotte, NC 28205, and general memberships are $30
|
|
>or more. The latest newsletter is at the printers and will be send out to
|
|
>members in the next few weeks. Since earlier today, MAPS can accept credit
|
|
>card orders.
|
|
>
|
|
>Rick Doblin
|
|
>
|
|
>
|
|
|
|
|