Drug Ecstasy May Hurt Fetuses

W A S H I N G TO N, May 1, 2001 -- Experiments in rats indicate that a mother’s

use of the drug ecstasy during pregnancy can result in learning and

memory problems for her offspring.

The finding published in today's issue of the Journal ofNeuroscience is the first evidence for specific memory damageassociated with a mother’s use of ecstasy, the National Instituteon Drug Abuse reported.

“These findings suggest that [ecstasy] may pose a previouslyunrecognized risk to the developing brain,” causing long-termlearning and memory problems, according to the team led by CharlesV. Vorhees of Children’s Hospital Research Foundation and theUniversity of Cincinnati College of Medicine in Cincinnati.

The scientists administered the increasingly popular drug, alsoknown as MDMA, twice a day to newborn rats either on the first 10days of their lives or on days 11 through 20 of their life. Theyreported that that exposure to the rats’ still-developing brain atthis time was equivalent to exposing a human to the drug eitherearly or late in the third trimester of pregnancy.

Brain Development Hurt

Thus, the team concluded, their results “raise concerns aboutthe safety of MDMA when exposure occurs during stages of braindevelopment analogous to the human fetal period.”

Vorhees’ team found that rats given the drug on days 11-20suffered from impaired learning and memory in maze tests. Thedamage was long-term, persisting even after the rats reachedadulthood.

However, those exposed on the first 10 days showed almost noeffects.

Exposure to the drug had no effect on survival, the team said,but it did affect weight gain. After the drug was stopped, the ratsrecovered to about 90 percent of the weight of rats not given thedrug.