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Memory deficits in abstinent MDMA (ecstasy) users: neuropsychological evidence of frontal dysfunction

Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany; Department of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland

Frank Jessen

Kai-Uwe Kühn

Wolfgang Maier

Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Irene Daum

Department of Neuropsychology, University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany

Michael Wagner

Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

Chronic administration of the common club drug 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) is associated with long-term depletion of serotonin (5-HT) and loss of 5-HT axons in the brains of rodents and non-human primates, and evidence suggests that recreational MDMA consumption may also affect the human serotonergic system. Moreover, it was consistently shown that abstinent MDMA users have memory de.cits. Recently, it was supposed that these de.cits are an expression of a temporal or rather hippocampal dysfunction caused by the serotonergic neurotoxicity of MDMA. The aim of this study is to examine the memory de.cits of MDMA users neuropsychologically in order to evaluate the role of different brain regions. Nineteen male abstinent MDMA users, 19 male abstinent cannabis users and 19 male drug-naive control subjects were examined with a German version of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). MDMA users showed widespread and marked verbal memory de.cits, compared to drug-naive controls as well as compared to cannabis users, whereas cannabis users did not differ from control subjects in their memory performance. MDMA users revealed impairments in learning, consolidation, recall and recognition. In addition, they also showed a worse recall consistency and strong retroactive interference whereby both measures were previously associated with frontal lobe function. There was a signi.cant correlation between memory performance and the amount of MDMA taken. These results suggest that the memory de.cits of MDMA users are not only the result of a temporal or hippocampal dysfunction, but also of a dysfunction of regions within the frontal cortex.

Key Words: MDMA • cannabis • memory • hippocampus • recall consistency • retroactive interference • frontal cortex • serotonin • 5-HT

Journal of Psychopharmacology, Vol. 20, No. 3, 373-384 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/0269881106061200


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