Pubdate: Tue, 01 May 2001
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2001, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Associated Press

ECSTASY, PREGNANCY DON'T MIX

Washington - Experiments in rats indicate that a mother's use of the drug 
ecstasy during pregnancy can result in learning and memory problems for her 
offspring.

The finding published in the May 1 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience is 
the first evidence for specific memory damage associated with a mother's 
use of ecstasy, the National Institute on Drug Abuse reported.

"These findings suggest that (ecstasy) may pose a previously unrecognized 
risk to the developing brain," causing long-term learning and memory 
problems, according to researchers.

The research team is led by Charles Vorhees of Children's Hospital Research 
Foundation and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati.

The scientists administered the increasingly popular drug, also known as 
MDMA, twice a day to newborn rats either on the first 10 days of their 
lives or on days 11 through 20 of their life.

They reported that exposure to the rats' still-developing brain at this 
time was equivalent to exposing a human to the drug either early or late in 
the third trimester of pregnancy.

Thus, the team concluded, their results "raise concerns about the safety of 
MDMA when exposure occurs during stages of brain development analogous to 
the human fetal period."

Dr. Vorhees's team found that rats given the drug on days 11-20 suffered 
from impaired learning and memory in maze tests. The damage was long-term, 
persisting even after the rats reached adulthood.

However, those exposed on the first 10 days showed almost no effects.

Exposure to the drug had no effect on survival, the team said, but it did 
affect weight gain. After the drug was stopped, the rats recovered to about 
90 per cent of the weight of rats not given the drug.
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MAP posted-by: Beth