PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Reneman, Liesbeth AU - Majoie, Charles B. L. M. AU - Flick, Herman AU - den Heeten, Gerard J. TI - Reduced <em>N</em>-Acetylaspartate Levels in the Frontal Cortex of 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (Ecstasy) Users: Preliminary Results DP - 2002 Feb 01 TA - American Journal of Neuroradiology PG - 231--237 VI - 23 IP - 2 4099 - http://www.ajnr.org/content/23/2/231.short 4100 - http://www.ajnr.org/content/23/2/231.full SO - Am. J. Neuroradiol.2002 Feb 01; 23 AB - BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The perceived safety of the recreational drug methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), or Ecstasy, conflicts with animal evidence indicating that MDMA damages cortical serotonin (5-HT) neurons at doses similar to those used by humans. Few data are available about the effects of MDMA on the human brain. This study was designed to evaluate MDMA-related alterations in metabolite ratios with single-voxel proton (1H) MR spectroscopy.METHODS: Fifteen male MDMA users (mean lifetime exposure, 723 tablets; mean time since last tablet, 12.0 weeks) and 12 age-matched control subjects underwent single-voxel 1H MR spectroscopy. N-Acetylaspartate (NAA)/creatine (Cr), NAA/Choline (Cho), and myoinositol (MI)/Cr ratios were measured in midfrontal gray matter, midoccipital gray matter, and right parietal white matter. Data were analyzed with linear model-based multivariate analysis of variance.RESULTS: NAA/Cr (P = .04) and NAA/Cho (P = .03) ratios, markers associated with neuronal loss or dysfunction, were reduced in the frontal cortex of MDMA users. Neither NAA/Cr (P = .72) nor NAA/Cho (P = .12) ratios were different between both groups in occipital gray matter and parietal white matter (P = .18). Extent of previous MDMA use and frontal cortical NAA/Cr (ρ = −.50, P = .012) or NAA/Cho (ρ = −.550, P &lt; .01) ratios were significantly associated.CONCLUSION: Reduced NAA/Cr and NAA/Cho ratios at 1H MR spectroscopy provide evidence for neuronal abnormality in the frontal cortex of MDMA users; these are correlated with the degree of MDMA exposure. These data suggest that MDMA may be a neurotoxin in humans, as it is in animals.