A very important experiment was performed in monkeys to
determine if ecstasy can actually damage neurons. Monkeys were
given ecstasy twice a day for four days (control monkeys were
given saline). One group of monkeys' brains were removed two
weeks later for analysis and another group of monkeys lived for
an additional seven years before their brains were removed.
Scientists examined the brains for the presence of serotonin.
This image shows the presence of serotonin in neurons of the
neocortex from three typical monkeys. On the left, the monkey
who did not receive any ecstasy had a lot of serotonin (in pink)
in the neocortex. Two weeks after a monkey received ecstasy,
most of the serotonin was gone (point to the middle panel),
suggesting that the serotonin neuron terminals were destroyed
(there was no destruction of the serotonin cell bodies arising
back in the brainstem). Point to the right-hand panel and show
students that this damage appeared to be long-term because seven
years later there was some recover