MDMA - induced neurotoxicity [ 2001 - 2003 ]

Research Grant

Researchers: A/Pr Rodney Irvine (Principal investigator) ,  Felix Bochner ,  Prof Jason White

Brief description The use of ecstasy and similar stimulant drugs is increasing in Australia and globally. Ecstasy can cause death within hours of ingestion but this occurs only in a small number of users. In contrast, there is recent compelling evidence that a large proportion of users of this drug develop significant and irreversible brain damage due to its use. This latter toxicity is insidious in that it may not become evident to users as impaired brain function until years after their drug use. As a result of the emerging scientific evidence, The National Institute of Drug Abuse in the USA has recognised the major adverse health impact of these drugs in a recent inititative. The brain has a blood brain barrier to stop toxic substances entering, but we postulate that this is damaged by the immediate effects of ecstasy. This allows acces of toxic breakdown products from the drug to enter the brain and cause the long term damage. If we understand the biological mechanisms which link the immediate and long term effects of ecstasy, we should be in a position to design strategies or therapies which limit its harmful effects. The purpose of this project is to 1. establish if the blood brain barrier is damaged by ecstasy 2. identify environmental factors which contribute to the severity of the toxic effects. We believe that an understanding of these events and the development of evidence based rational treatments for these toxicities is essential: 1 in the short term, to prevent injury and death from these drugs,and 2 in the long term, to prevent a potential major public health problem from neurodegenerative deficits that may be magnified as users age. We believe that our group has the ideal mix of expertise and state of the art methods to make a significant advance in the understanding these problems.

Funding Amount $AUD 181,018.36

Funding Scheme NHMRC Project Grants

Notes Standard Project Grant