Serotonergic neurotransmission in emotional processing: New evidence from long-term recreational poly-drug ecstasy use
Journal of Psychopharmacology September 6, 2016 Helle Ruff Laursen, Susanne Henningsson, Julian Macoveanu et al. 8 citations
Prolonged recreational use of MDMA (ecstasy) alters serotonin neurotransmission, similar to a depleted state. In this fMRI study, 14 ecstasy users and 12 non-users viewed faces expressing anger, disgust, fear, sadness, or no emotion while their amygdala activity was measured. Serotonin transporter binding, assessed via PET, correlated negatively with amygdala activity in users. Greater lifetime ecstasy intake was associated with increased amygdala activity during angry face processing, while longer time since last use showed a trend toward decreased activity during angry and sad face processing. The results indicate dose-dependent effects of long-term serotonin depletion on emotional face processing.