Long-term ecstasy use linked to brain damage

Long-term ecstasy use may lead to brain damage and memory loss, new research suggests.

Past studies have linked ecstasy use to memory problems, but the latest study is the first to link the Class A drug to structural changes in the brain.

Scientists at the Academic Research Centre in Amsterdam used MRI scans to look at changes to the hippocampus - the area of the brain responsible for long term memory.

They then used the scans to compare the brain volume of 10 long-term ecstasy users with those of seven people who had never taken the drug.

On average, the ecstasy users had taken 281 ecstasy tablets over the past six and a half years.

Both groups in the study drank alcohol regularly and had used similar amounts of recreational drugs, with the exception of ecstasy.

The MRI scans showed that the hippocampus was 10.5 per cent smaller in ecstasy users compared with non-users.

The overall proportion of grey matter was also 4.6 per cent lower compared with non-users. Researchers said this suggested the effects of the drug may not be restricted to the hippocampus alone.

The findings may help to explain the memory problems which had previously been reported in ecstasy users.

"Taken together, these data provide preliminary evidence suggesting that ecstasy users may be prone to incurring hippocampal damage, following chronic use of this drug," the authors wrote in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.

"Hippocampal atrophy is a hallmark for diseases of progressive cognitive impairment in older patients, such as Alzheimer's disease," the authors said.

This article was published on Thu 7 April 2011