The loud music typical of nightclubs and raves appears to prolong the toxic effects of MDMA, also known as ecstasy, on the brain, according to a study conducted in rats.

In the absence of loud music, however, the reduced brain activity caused by ecstasy use appears to be short-lived.

“We can therefore state that the effects of this drug could be potentiated by relatively common environmental factors and stress,” study author Michelangelo Iannone, of the Institute of Neurological Science in Catanzaro, Italy, told Reuters Health. The findings also illustrate the potential danger of drugs that have been popularly accepted as relatively safe because of their short-term effects.

The findings are especially relevant in light of “the increase of popularity of this stimulant drug and its association with certain youth subcultures, in particular the dance music scene, where ecstasy is preferred to other drugs,” Iannone noted.

Increasing evidence suggests that this club drug is associated with a number of detrimental effects, including increases in body temperature, toxicity to the brain and memory loss. Iannone and his colleagues examined the potential influence of loud techno music on the drug.

Iannone’s group injected rats with low doses (3 milligrams per kilogram of weight) or high doses (six milligrams per kilogram) of the drug, or placebo. Rats from each group were then subjected to white noise at an intensity similar to what people are exposed to in nightclubs and at 95 decibels - the maximum noise level permitted in nightclubs under Italian law.

The rats’ brain activity was then measured via electrodes placed on their skull. The effects of the drug were apparent as quickly as three minutes after it was administered, the researchers report in the journal BMC Neuroscience.

In the absence of the loud music, low doses of MDMA did not affect the rats’ brain activity compared with rats given placebo. When combined with the loud music, however, low doses of the drug were associated with decreased brain activity, the report indicates. Brain activity was further reduced among rats given a high dose of the drug.

Long-term experiments showed that the reduced brain activity among rats given the higher dose of the drug persisted for up to five days, the researchers note. Brain activity returned to normal after one day in rats given a similar dose of the drug who were not exposed to the loud music.

More studies are needed to understand the relationship between loud music and MDMD and to identify other possible environmental factors, such as alcohol and sensory stimulation by intermittent lights typical of nightclubs, which may intensify ecstasy’s effects, according to the Italian researcher.

SOURCE: BMC Neuroscience, February 16, 2006.