STUDY LINKS ECSTASY'S EFFECT TO PARKINSON'S

Health: Animal Tests Show The Party Drug Can Lead To Severe Brain Damage
And Disease Symptoms Such As Loss Of Motor Skills.

Even one typical night's use of the club drug Ecstasy may damage nerve
cells in the brain responsible for movement, increasing the risk of
Parkinson's disease and similar disorders, researchers report today.

The findings were based on animal studies in which monkeys and baboons were
given the kinds of doses that users might consume at all-night dance
parties. The animals suffered profound neurological damage, according to
results published in the journal Science, and lost 60% to 80% of the brain
cells that transmit dopamine, a brain chemical that regulates movement.

"We've never seen an effect of this magnitude before, and we were surprised
that one session caused this much damage," said Dr. George A. Ricaurte, a
study coauthor and a neurologist at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in
Baltimore.

Ecstasy gained popularity in the '90s as part of the rave club scene, and
young partygoers sometimes take three or four doses over several hours.

Previous animal studies had shown that the drug damages as much as 30% to
40% of serotonin neurons, which produce a brain chemical that regulates
mood and behavior. This depletion may account for the emotional letdown
habitual users often experience after weekend Ecstasy binges, experts say.

The drug's effect on dopamine was twice as severe, which is worrisome
because it may predispose even occasional users to neurological problems,
the researchers said. Because there is only one known case of an Ecstasy
user having movement problems, the lack of obvious or immediate harmful
effects contributes to "the misperception that Ecstasy is a safe drug,"
Ricaurte said.

But Parkinson's symptoms usually don't emerge until individuals lose more
than 80% to 90% of their dopamine neurons. Because dopamine levels decline
as people age, Ecstasy users may be placing themselves at risk of
developing symptoms of the motor disorder, Ricaurte said.

Some scientists, however, said the findings might not apply to humans.

"This study is seriously flawed and the interpretation misleading," said
Dr. Charles S. Grob, director of the division of child and adolescent
psychiatry at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. The animals in the
experiment were injected with Ecstasy, and that can be much more toxic than
ingesting the drug orally, which is how it is normally used, he said.

And while illicit street use is "dangerous because the drug is often
adulterated with harmful compounds," he said, any possible brain cell
damage is probably not permanent.

Researchers said the next step is to determine the drug's neurological
effect on humans. Scientists at Johns Hopkins are doing brain imaging scans
on habitual Ecstasy users to see if they have dopamine and serotonin
deficits, but test results aren't yet available.

Still, this is an important study because it demonstrates Ecstasy may
seriously damage two key systems in the brain, those controlling movement
and mood, said Alan I. Leshner, chief executive of the American Assn. for
the Advancement of Science, which publishes Science, and former director of
the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Bethesda, Md.

"This should send a clear message that trying Ecstasy for even one night is
like playing Russian roulette with your brain," Leshner said.

The study was funded by the U.S. Public Health Service.