Acute oral administration of MDMA (Ecstasy) to adult female rats produced dose-related effects including hyperthermia, reduced food and water intake, and hyperactivity. Deaths occurred from 40 mg/kg upward. Lower doses (20 and 40 mg/kg) caused prolonged hyperactivity lasting about 9 hours, while higher doses led to serotonin syndrome. The likely cause of death was a combination of serotonin syndrome and hyperthermia.
A single dose of the recreational drug MDEA ("eve") given to Dark Agouti rats caused an acute, dose-dependent rise in body temperature. The peak hyperthermia from 35 mg/kg of MDEA matched that from 15 mg/kg of MDMA ("ecstasy"). Seven days later, MDMA caused a 50% loss of serotonin and its metabolite in the cortex, hippocampus, and striatum, indicating neurotoxic damage to serotonin nerve endings. MDEA at the highest dose produced only a 20% loss in cortex and hippocampus and no loss in striatum, with weak dose dependence. Neither drug altered striatal dopamine. MDEA had about half the potency of MDMA for hyperthermia and one-quarter the potency for serotonin neuron degeneration.