Fig. 6.

Effects of 2 and 10 mg/kg MDMA on postmortem tissue concentrations of 5-HT in rat cortex and striatum. Rats bearing indwelling jugular catheters received MDMA by the intraperitoneal, subcutaneous, or oral route. Subjects were returned to the vivarium after blood sampling procedures, and a group of control rats received 1 ml/kg i.p. saline. Two weeks later, all rats were decapitated, brain regions were dissected, and tissue was frozen until 5-HT assay by HPLC-electrochemical detection as described under Materials and Methods. Data are the mean ± S.D. for n = 4 to 5 rats/group expressed as a percentage of the saline-treated control. Tissue concentrations of 5-HT in control rats were 210 ± 52 and 319 ± 77 pg/mg of tissue for cortex and striatum, respectively.