Recreational Ecstasy use linked to loss of brain efficiency

Washington, May 4 (ANI): The efficiency of Ecstasy - the illegal "rave" drug that produces feelings of euphoria and emotional warmth - as a potential therapeutic for post-traumatic stress disorder has been a debate in some recent reports.

While clinical trials for the drug as a therapy are going on, some reports have questioned about its negative effects being overblown.

Now, shedding light to this argument, Ronald Cowan, associate professor of Psychiatry and his team have found that that recreational use of the drug is associated with a chronic change in brain function.

"There's tension in the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy between those who think Ecstasy could be a valuable therapeutic that's not being tested because of overblown fears, and those who are concerned about the drug's potentially harmful effects," Cowan said.

"We're not on one side or the other; we're just trying to find out what's going on in the brain - is there any evidence for long-lasting changes in the brain?" he said.

Cowan and his colleagues examined brain activation during visual stimulation, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in subjects who had previously used Ecstasy (but not in the two weeks prior to imaging) and in subjects who had not previously used Ecstasy.

They found increased brain activation (hyper-excitability) in three brain areas associated with visual processing in Ecstasy users with the highest lifetime exposure to the drug.

Cowan said that the pattern of hyper-excitability is similar to that observed in fMRI studies of individuals at risk for, or with early, Alzheimer's disease.

"I'm not saying that these people are at increased risk for dementia, but that there's a loss of brain efficiency in both recreational Ecstasy use and early Alzheimer's," he added.

The study was published in the May issue of Neuropsychopharmacology. (ANI)

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