Ecstasy babies likely abnormal.

• Position: Chemical Imbalances - Brief Article

A study shows that 21-day-old rat pups exposed in the womb to the drug MDMA (methylenedioxymethamphetamine, often called Ecstasy) during a period corresponding to the first trimester in human pregnancy exhibit changes in brain chemistry and behavior, report researchers at Rush Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Ill.

Jack W. Lipton, James Koprich, and their colleagues injected eight pregnant rats twice daily with MDMA from day 14 through day 20 of pregnancy, a period corresponding to the first three months of human fetal development. The scientists injected saline twice daily during the same period to another eight pregnant rats. The researchers examined brain tissue of the rat pups when they were 21 days old. A 21-day-old rat pup is roughly equivalent to a two- to six-year-old child. "Our most striking finding was that 21-day-old MDMA-exposed pups had a 502% increase in the number of dopamine neuron fibers in the frontal cortex compared with control animals," notes Lipton. Abnormal or overly numerous connections in the frontal cortex may result in aberrant signaling there, possibly contributing to abnormal behavior.

Dopamine is a brain...