Ecstasy as a brain booster for Parkinson's?

28 October 2006

http://www.newscientist.com/article....-alcohol_rss20

IT COULD be a rave result for people with Parkinson's. It seems that ecstasy boosts the number of dopamine-producing cells in the brain - the type that decline in those with the disease. Or so rat studies suggest.

Previous human studies have suggested that ecstasy is bad for the brain because it damages serotonin signalling neurons, which play a role in memory. When Jack Lipton of the University of Cincinnati and his colleagues gave pregnant rats the drug they found no signs of damage in newborn pups.

Instead, they saw a threefold rise in the number of dopamine producing cells. These cells were also more highly branched and developed than normal, suggesting they functioned better.

Similarly, when cultured embryonic dopamine cells were exposed to ecstasy, roughly three times as many cells survived. The effect didn't vary much with increasing concentration, although particularly high doses did kill the brain cells.

Lipton believes that ecstasy prevents the programmed cell death that normally occurs when neurons are stressed, as happens in certain degenerative diseases including Parkinson's, and in cell cultures.

Lipton suggests that some promising new ecstasy-like drugs might one day be used to boost dopamine-producing cells in people with Parkinson's - without damaging other neurons in the brain. The work was presented at a meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Atlanta, Georgia, last week.

From issue 2575 of New Scientist magazine, 28 October 2006, page 17

I didn't see the tv program, but I've heard that a PWP was on a tv talk show who did a demonstration of the good effects ecstacy had on PD symptoms. This was more than a year ago. I think there was a thread on the old BT-forum. Does anyone remember? I suppose that sense its an illegal drug there is not too much documentation on the subject.
jerry

I FOUND THE STORY ON THE WEB ---http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/1169980.stm

Yes I remember the UK TV programme which featured a PD sufferer, Tim Lawrence, who had been a stunt man, but was bedridden due to PD, showed how taking ecstacy removed his symptons, and he was able to do somersaults and other athletic things. The researcher was Dr Jonathan Brochie, from Mabchester University. (The University where I got my degees in chemistry)
I have corresponded several times with Dr Brochie, who has now left the university and has his own biotech company called Motac. He has now moved to Canada.
I have a video of the BBC programme, but it is in UK format
The story dates back to 2001.
See http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon...asyagony.shtml
Ron

The other night , but it "poofed" on me
Great story line post Ron.
First of all, chemically, ecstacy has the two hydroxyl groups on the aromatic ring of the "almost dopamine" structure, tied together by a "methylene" group(one carbon atom, balanced off with two hydrogen atoms).
This is probably responsible for it's good CNS penetrability, as the naked hydroxyl groups are not exactly neutral atomic substituents, but instead are slightlly acidic. The neutral "methylendioxy" group itself is in a "tied back" configuration, but amply mimics the two "naked" hydroxyl groups of the dopamine structure.
And yes, NMDA acts on 5HT-2 receptors, which are responsible for it's "psychotomimetic" properties, that is massive release of serotonin, and while said not to act at dopamine receptors, it has such a similar structure to dopamine itself that it is no wonder why we see dopaminergic effects (at either pre or post synaptic D recptors). The answer to this question is easily seen in structural comparison.
And you can't keep pumping up the serotonin system indefinitely, sooner or later that pump becomes "damaged" if it is continually stimulated. Then you have damaged a very important neurotransmitter system involved in mood regulation. People coming off a long binge of NMDA have been known to commit suicide. cs