Ecstasy helps Parkinson's victims

November 18 2002

Experiments have shown that the drug ecstasy can help alleviate the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Researchers testing the drug on monkeys have found that it can dramatically curb the uncontrollable movements associated with the neurological disease, New Scientist magazine reported.

Parkinson's specialists at the University of Manchester conducted the tests after a television documentary that showed the dramatic effects of the drug on former stuntman Tim Lawrence.

His story won the attention of the nation after television pictures showed ecstasy, or MDMA, enabling him to win control of his violent shaking for hours at a time, allowing him to walk, run and even somersault.

The Manchester researchers decided to follow up the case, using marmoset monkeys instead of humans for reasons of safety.

Parkinson's is caused by a loss of the dopamine-producing cells in the brain. Since the late 1960s, doctors have treated it with L-dopa, a chemical precursor to dopamine that can "unfreeze" patients.

Unfortunately, side effects of this treatment after a time include uncontrollable and repetitive bodily movement. Six marmosets were given daily doses of L-dopa until they displayed these symptoms. The animals were then given MDMA. This resulted in the repetitive movements of arms and legs declining by 85 per cent.

Research team member Jonathon Brotchie, who now runs biotech company Motac, told New Scientist: "The magnitude and quality of the effect took us by surprise. It was always possible that Tim's response to ecstasy was unusual."

The Manchester team, which released its findings this week at the conference of the Society for Neuroscience in Florida, have put forward the theory that MDMA's ability to stimulate the release of the neurotransmitter serotonin in the brain may be responsible for the outcome.

But the positive findings may be of little help to Parkinson's sufferers for the time being, as researchers are not calling for patients to be given legal supplies. Instead, they want to look for MDMA-related drugs to develop.

Robert Meadowcroft, policy director of Britain's Parkinson's Disease Society, also issued a caution. He warned sufferers against trying ecstasy, saying it was "impure, illegal and dangerous".

DPA

Read the article from the Sydney Morning Herald