Research on the effects of ecstasy carried out by experts at University College Cork (UCC) has shown that the drug can act outside of the central nervous system on the skeletal muscle.
It is generally held that the effects of MDMA (ecstasy) are brought about by its actions on nerve cells in the brain - it is a centrally acting agent.
However, findings by Prof James Heffron, his UCC team and researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany suggest ecstasy can also impact on the skeletal muscle.
Prof Heffron says the research findings explain the severe toxic effects of MDMA outside of the central nervous system.
Instances of the latter related to deaths among young ecstasy users have appeared in the media in recent years.
The UCC study findings have just been published in the American Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapies.