Ecstasy prevents clubbers chilling

Ecstasy is widely used by clubbers in the UK

The clubbers' drug ecstasy causes potentially fatal disruption to the body's cooling mechanism, researchers say.

The drug has been linked to more than 100 heat-stroke deaths since it became fashionable in night-clubs in the mid-1980s.

This is partly due to the fact that it increases the body's metabolic rate, which when combined with hours of dancing can make body temperature soar.

However, doctors at the Flinders Medical Centre in Adelaide, South Australia, have discovered that the drug also impairs the body's ability to cool itself down.

When the body becomes too hot, the blood vessels near to the surface of the skin become dilated, so that the blood is cooled as it passes through them.

But when researchers gave Ecstasy to rabbits it triggered severe constriction of the blood vessels leading to the skin in their ears.

Flow drops

Lead researcher Dr William Blessing said: "Blood flow drops to near zero straight away. The ear goes as white as a sheet."

A drug called clozapine, normally used to treat schizophrenia, restored blood flow in the rabbits ears to near normal.

Clozapine has severe side effects, and therefore it would not be ideal as an Ecstasy antidote.

However, scientists hope to develop other treatments that mimic the effect of the drug without its side effects.

Ecstasy is also thought to generate feelings of anxiety, panic and confusion in users.

Evidence is also mounting that regular use of the drug may cause long-term brain changes which may be linked to an increased risk of mental health problems, including chronic depression.

The research is reported in New Scientist magazine.