Neuromorphological and functional effects of ecstasy during serotonergic damage and recovery

Background The ring-substituted amphetamine derivative ( ± )-3,4methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA; Ecstasy) has become a widely abused psychoactive drug among young people. Studies indicate that MDMA produces long-term alterations of serotonergic parameters in the brain of rodents and primates, and MDMA was also found to be neurotoxic in humans. The aim of our work was to characterize the regional differences of the damage in the terminal and cellular areas, and the alterations during recovery. Serotonin (5-HT) plays a key role in the regulation of sleep, hence we used EEG recordings to measure functional and morphological effects in parallel during partial damage and recovery of brain serotonergic neurons by MDMA.