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Adolescent MDMA exposure diminishes the physiological and neurotoxic consequences of an MDMA binge in female rats
Author(s) -
Piper Brian J.,
Henderson Christina S.,
Meyer Jerrold S.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
developmental psychobiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.055
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1098-2302
pISSN - 0012-1630
DOI - 10.1002/dev.21169
Subject(s) - mdma , ecstasy , psychology , binge drinking , developmental psychology , psychiatry , medicine , poison control , injury prevention , medical emergency
Intermittent MDMA pretreatment blocked the reductions in serotonin transporter (SERT) binding induced by an MDMA binge in a prior study in adolescent male rats. The objective of this investigation was to determine if the physiological, behavioral, and neurochemical responses to MDMA are sexually dimorphic. Female Sprague–Dawley rats received MDMA (10 mg/kg × 2) or Saline on every fifth day from postnatal day (PD) 35–60 and an MDMA binge (5 mg/kg × 4) on PD 67. The MDMA binge induced a pronounced temperature dysregulation in MDMA‐naïve, but not MDMA‐pretreated, groups. Similarly, MDMA‐pretreated animals were resistant to the binge‐induced SERT reductions, especially in the hippocampus. Motor activity at PD 68 was not reduced by the binge, unlike the responses found in males. These results show that female rats differ from males in their responses to an MDMA binge but are similar with respect to preconditioning from prior MDMA exposure. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Dev Psychobiol 56: 924–934, 2014.