SLC6A4 binding site and acute prosocial effects of (+/-)-3,4-methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are evolutionarily conserved in Octopus bimaculoides
bioRxiv Preprint Server April 16, 2018 Eric Edsinger, Gül Dölen 1 citation preprint
MDMA, also known as ecstasy, increases social behavior in octopuses, despite over 500 million years of evolutionary separation from humans. Octopuses are typically solitary, but when given MDMA, they spent more time in close contact with other octopuses. This effect is linked to a shared serotonin transporter protein, which has a binding site for MDMA that is evolutionarily conserved in the octopus genome. The findings suggest that the neural systems underlying social behavior, particularly those involving serotonin, are ancient and have been preserved across diverse animal lineages.