title: "Ecstasy" toxicity to adolescent rats following an acute low binge dose.
abstract: 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA or "ecstasy") is a worldwide drug of abuse commonly used by adolescents. Most reports focus on MDMA's neurotoxicity and use high doses in adult animals, meanwhile studies in adolescents are scarce. We aimed to assess in rats the acute MDMA toxicity to the brain and peripheral organs using a binge dose scheme that tries to simulate human adolescent abuse.
  
  
  
  Adolescent rats (postnatal day 40) received three 5 mg/kg doses of MDMA (estimated equivalent to two/three pills in a 50 kg adolescent), intraperitoneally, every 2 h, while controls received saline. After 24 h animal sacrifice took place and collection of brain areas (cerebellum, hippocampus, frontal cortex and striatum) and peripheral organs (liver, heart and kidneys) occurred.
  
  
  
  Significant hyperthermia was observed after the second and third MDMA doses, with mean increases of 1 °C as it occurs in the human scenario. MDMA promoted ATP levels fall in the frontal cortex. No brain oxidative stress-related changes were observed after MDMA. MDMA-treated rat organs revealed significant histological tissue alterations including vascular congestion, but no signs of apoptosis or necrosis were found, which was corroborated by the lack of changes in plasma biomarkers and tissue caspases. In peripheral organs, MDMA did not affect significantly protein carbonylation, glutathione, or ATP levels, but liver presented a higher vulnerability as MDMA promoted an increase in quinoprotein levels.
  
  
  
  Adolescent rats exposed to a moderate MDMA dose, presented hyperthermia and acute tissue damage to peripheral organs without signs of brain oxidative stress.
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia), Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal. armandatgomes@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Armanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teixeira-Gomes
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia), Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Vera Marisa
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Costa
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia), Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Feio-Azevedo
authors.affiliation: CIAFEL, Faculdade de Desporto, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: José Alberto
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Duarte
authors.affiliation: Biotério do Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas de Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Margarida
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Duarte-Araújo
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, Laboratório de Química Aplicada, Departamento de Química, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Eduarda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia), Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria de Lourdes
authors.initials: Mde L
authors.lastname: Bastos
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia), Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal.
authors.forename: Félix
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Carvalho
authors.affiliation: UCIBIO-REQUIMTE (Rede de Química e Tecnologia), Laboratório de Toxicologia, Departamento de Ciências Biológicas, Faculdade de Farmácia, Universidade do Porto, Rua de Jorge Viterbo Ferreira, 228, 4050-313, Porto, Portugal. joaocapela@ff.up.pt.|FP-ENAS (Unidade de Investigação UFP em Energia, Ambiente e Saúde), CEBIMED (Centro de Estudos em Biomedicina), Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde, Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal. joaocapela@ff.up.pt.
authors.forename: João Paulo
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Capela
mesh_terms: D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate / Q000097:blood / Q000378:metabolism; D000367:Age Factors; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D005334:Fever / Q000097:blood / Q000139:chemically induced; D006213:Hallucinogens / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000633:toxicity; D008297:Male; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000633:toxicity*; D011897:Random Allocation; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar
chemical_list: D006213:Hallucinogens; D000255:Adenosine Triphosphate; D018817:N-Methyl-3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine
keywords: Adolescent; Brain; Hyperthermia; Oxidative stress; Peripheral toxicity; “Ecstasy”