PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Madras, Bertha
AU  - Bonab, Ali
AU  - Fischman, Alan
TI  - Dopamine transporter binding potential increases following an acute dose of MDMA (Ecstasy)
DP  - 2009 May 01
TA  - Journal of Nuclear Medicine
PG  - 1223--1223
VI  - 50
IP  - supplement 2
4099  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/50/supplement_2/1223.short
4100  - http://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/50/supplement_2/1223.full
SO  - J Nucl Med2009 May 01; 50
AB  - 1223 Objectives MDMA (methylene-dioxymethamphetamine or ecstasy) is a widely used psychoactive drug, considered to act primarily via modulating serotonin transporter (SERT) function. We previously demonstrated that MDMA is also a substrate for the dopamine (DAT) and norepinephrine transporter (Verrico et al, 2007). A number of studies have investigated the effects of chronic (repeated) MDMA exposure on the SERT and DAT. Presently, we investigated whether MDMA alters DAT binding potential(BP) after a single acute dose. Methods In rhesus monkeys (n=5), we used PET imaging and the DAT ligands 11C-CFT or 11C-Altropane to measure DAT BP. PET imaging was performed a over 60 min (Eight 15 sec frames and 1.0 min frames thereafter) using a GE PC4096 PET camera. ROI’s were drawn over striatum and cerebellum and binding potential was calculated using the SRTM method. Following genaration of base line images, MDMA (1.5 mg/kg) was injected intravenously and imaging was repeated 1 hour after drug injection. Results DAT BP measured with 11C-CFT consistently increased 121% (n=5). Intramuscular MDMA and the DAT ligand 11C-Altropane yielded inconsistent changes, indicating that the observations with 11C-CFT are route and time-sensitive. Conclusions The findings with 11C-CFT and MDMA are contrary to the expectations, that MDMA would either have minimal effect or reduce DAT occupancy by 11C-CFT. It is possible that MDMA inhibition of striatal SERT blocks SERT binding by 11C-CFT to increase PET ligand availability for the DAT. Alternately, MDMA may alter DAT regulatory mechanisms acutely to increase DAT availability. Research Support Grant support: DA11558; DA06303; DA 15305; RR00168