Acute and long-term effects of a single dose of MDMA on aggression in Dark Agouti rats
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology August 1, 2005 Eszter Kirilly, Anita Benkő, Linda Ferrington et al. 26 citations
A single dose of MDMA (15 mg/kg) in male Dark Agouti rats caused lasting damage to the serotonin system, shown by 30–60% reductions in paroxetine binding in the forebrain and decreased brain glucose metabolism in aggression-related areas. Despite this neurotoxicity, aggressive behaviors (biting, boxing, wrestling) were not significantly different from controls three weeks later, and the acute anti-aggressive effects of MDMA and two 5-HT1B receptor agonists remained intact. The findings suggest that aggressive behavior and the acute anti-aggressive action of MDMA are preserved even with substantial serotonergic damage, at least under the social isolation conditions of the resident-intruder test.