Findings Of Animal Study Suggest Mother's Use Of Ecstasy May Cause Memory Defects In Offspring.

2001 MAY 24 - (NewsRx Network) -- Researchers have reported the first evidence that a mother's use of the illicit drug MDMA (ecstasy) during pregnancy may result in specific types of long-term learning and memory impairments in her offspring.

The research, published in the May 2001 issue of the Journal of Neuroscieice, was conducted by scientists from Children's Hospital Research Foundation and the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, Ohio. The researchers administered MDMA to two groups of newborn rats. One group received ecstasy twice a day for 10 days after birth (analogous to early third-trimester brain development in humans); the other group received ecstasy twice a day during days 11 through 20 (analogous to late human third-trimester brain development).

To determine the effects of ecstasy on cognitive abilities, a series of maze and swimming tests were conducted on the rats when they reached an average age of 60 days. While no cognitive changes were noted in the rats given ecstasy at an earlier age, memory and learning deficiencies were noted in the group exposed to ecstasy during days 11-20. The ecstasy-induced disruption in both sequential and spatial reference memory-based learning was long-term and was still apparent after this group reached adulthood.

"This study adds to the evidence that ecstasy is a dangerous drug. Unfortunately, its popularity ...