A Level of Biology_ Nervous System 4-Ecstacy and Serotonin
Hi, and welcome to my fourth video in this series.
Today, we’re going to be looking at the relationship between ecstasy and serotonin
in the brain.
This diagram shows two neurones.
This is your pre-synaptic neurone and this one is your post-synaptic neurone; again,
pre meaning before, and post meaning after.
These are neurones in the brain and these are the neurones that control things like
your mood and happiness.
The drug that we’re looking at today is ecstasy otherwise known as sometimes MDMA.
What that causes is that causes a release a chemical called serotonin.
Serotonin is represented on the diagrams by these little yellow circles and they’re
the neurotransmitter between the nerve cells in the brain that control things like mood
and happiness.
Now, what usually happens is that the serotonin is usually recycled and then put back into
the pre-synaptic neuron.
So, this diagram here shows essentially how its reset.
So, now, when another impulse comes in, it’s then free to release more serotonin into the
synapse.
But what happens when you take ecstasy is the serotonin is not taken back up into the
pre-synaptic neurone like it is here.
Essentially, what happens is this, the serotonin, is blocked from reentering here and so you
have an increased level of serotonin in the synapse.
So, these neurones consistently fire, hence, the feelings of happiness and pleasure that
you get when the drug is taken.
Then, not all research down in this area is absolutely conclusive, but for most of the
evidence that we have currently, there seems to be a link between taking MDMA and ecstasy
and some forms of depression.
Like I said, this isn’t a guarantee; taking ecstasy and MDMA doesn’t guarantee depression
but it increases your risk.
A bit like if you’re drinking too much, the increase risk of liver disease is much
higher than if you did not.
In summary, the neuro transmitter and the brain that controls mood and happiness is
serotonin and essentially taking a drug like ecstasy or MDMA increases the level of serotonin
in the brain.
It does this because it stops it being reabsorbed back into the presynaptic neurone.
This causes the neurones in the brain that control happiness and mood to fire more regularly
and this increases the feelings of pleasure and elation.
It has been shown, however, that prolonged use of ecstasy can lead to depression.