Effects of Acute MDMA Exposure on Sert1, Psd-95, 5-Ht2ar, and Grin2b in the Dorsal Hippocampus (2024)
Undergraduate: Neha Venkatesh
Faculty Advisor: Shveta Parekh
Department: Psychology and Neuroscience
3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), more commonly known as ecstasy, is classified as both a hallucinogen and a stimulant and leads to changes in the levels of dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by increased reactivity to certain stimuli as a result of exposure to a single traumatic event or from repeated stressful experiences. Currently, there is no effective treatment for PTSD and as a result clinical trials are being conducted with MDMA being explored as a possible treatment for PTSD. Clinical trials have shown that it has better therapeutic effects on severe PTSD than SSRIs, the current gold standard for PTSD treatment. However, the mechanism behind fear extinction learning associated with PTSD treatment with MDMA is unknown. This research aims to use qPCR to assess changes in gene expression for genes related to fear learning following acute MDMA exposure in the dorsal hippocampus, an area known for its involvement in memory. Specifically, the levels in gene expression for SERT1, PSD-95, GRIN2B, and 5-HT2AR were assessed in rodents which had MDMA or saline injected 24 and 1 hour prior to cervical dislocation. This study found that SERT1 expression increased in the MDMA group, compared to the control group, and that expression of GRIN2B, PSD-95, and 5-HT2AR did not change significantly.