Distribution of temperature changes and neurovascular coupling in rat brain following 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") exposure.

ABSTRACT: (+/-)3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "ecstasy") is an abused psychostimulant that produces strong monoaminergic stimulation and whole-body hyperthermia. MDMA-induced thermogenesis involves activation of uncoupling proteins (UCPs), primarily a type specific to skeletal muscle (UCP-3) and absent from the brain, although other UCP types are expressed in the brain (e.g. thalamus) and might contribute to thermogenesis. Since neuroimaging of brain temperature could provide insights into MDMA action, we measured spatial distributions of systemically administered MDMA-induced temperature changes and dynamics in rat cortex and subcortex using a novel magnetic resonance method, Biosensor Imaging of Redundant Deviation in Shifts (BIRDS), with an exogenous temperature-sensitive probe (thulium

SUBMITTER: Coman D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4573923 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature