Posted by stjames on September 15, 2001, at 2:10:26
In reply to Re: Village Voice : The People's Prozac » stjames, posted by SalArmy4me on September 14, 2001, at 19:06:42
> Ecstasy use is safe--if you disregard the mountain full of scientific evidence that proves that Ecstasy causes depression:
> From MEDLINEJames here....
This is what you always post (copy and paste), every time. How about actually read what neurotoxicologist Dr. James O'Callaghan has to say
instead of copy and pasting, per usual. The learned doc, speaking in his field, calls all your studies into question.< quote >
He says these ads are misleading because
they leap beyond what we already know--that administering the popular club drug, also known as MDMA, carries the aftereffect of temporarily decreasing serotonin. ''It looks like a blank slate, but it comes back,''says 'Callaghan. ''I'm not saying that MDMA isn't bad. I'm just saying that there's no evidence that it destroys serotonin neurons.''O'Callaghan thinks this view is too simplistic. He says that just because the drug affects serotonin doesn't mean the damage takes place in those neurons. The rewiring, he argues, stems from something other than injury. ''The pruning phenomenon is not necessarily reflective of damage,'' he says, ''just profound and long-lasting changes.''
He contends that if MDMA caused nerve-cell degeneration, star-shaped cells would form, leading to an increase of the glial fibrillary acidic protein, or GFAP. ''Any chemical known to damage the brain has caused an increase in
GFAP,'' explains O'Callaghan. ''We don't see that response with MDMA.''But O'Callaghan believes the whole idea of neurotoxicity--of brain damage--has been tossed around too freely. A single dose of reserpine, a
prescription drug used to treat hypertension, markedly lowers serotonin levels for extended periods. ''It's just as neurotoxic as MDMA, if you
equate neurotoxicity with serotonin decrease,'' he says. ''But if you look at damage as defined by loss of structure, you don't see it with MDMA , even in whopping doses.''
poster:stjames
thread:78772
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20010907/msgs/78786.html