Effects on rat sexual behaviour of acute MDMA (ecstasy) alone or in combination with loud music

R. Cagiano, I. Bera*, R. Sabatini**, P. Flace^, D. Vermesan^^, H. Vermesan^^, S.I. Dragulescu^^, L. Bottalico§, L. Santacroce#

Department of Pharmacology and Human Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bari, Bari (Italy)
*“Lucian Blaga” University, Medical School, Sibiu (Romania)
**Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, General Hospital Policlinico, University of Bari, Bari (Italy)
^Department of Human Anatomy and Histology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bari, Bari (Italy)
^^University of Medicine and Pharmacy ”Victor Babes”, Timisoara (Romania)
§School of Dental Hygiene, Faculty of Medicine, University of Bari, Bari (Italy)
#Dept. of Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Faculty of Medicine,
University of Bari, Bari (Italy)

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• Pharmacology

Abstract. – The effects on sexual behaviour of acute low doses of methylendioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) (0.3, 1, 3 mg/kg/i.p.), alone or in combination with exposure to loud music (1 h stimulation), were investigated in Wistar rats. Results indicate that acute MDMA, at dose of 3 mg/kg, notably impaired copulatory behavior of sexually experienced male rats.
In particular, MDMA-exposed animals exhibited a significant increase in intromission and ejaculation latencies as well as a significant decrease in percentage of rats displaying copulatory activity (one intromission at least). Surprisingly, one hour exposure to loud music, which per se resulted ineffective, antagonized the suppressive effect of MDMA by increasing the percent of animals displaying sexual activity. However, combined treatment of MDMA and music stimulation did not fully restore normal sexual behavior as the animals reaching ejaculation still showed a marked reduction of copulatory efficiency.
These findings demonstrate that the systemic administration of a single low dose of MDMA, alone or in combination with loud music, which is commonly present in certain environments such as rave parties, notably impairs copulatory activity of male rats.

Corresponding Author: Raffaele Cagiano MD; e-mail: r.cagiano@farmacol.uniba.it

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