THE induction of chromosomal aberrations by exogenous agents, such as viruses, radiation and chemicals, is an area of active cytogenetic investigation.1 Recently, the psychotomimetic hallucinogen, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD-25), has been added to the list of chemicals capable of causing abnormalities in the chromosomes of human leukocytes.2 , 3 Such preliminary studies report the in vitro...
MOST typically, medical research has proceeded from clinical observation to clinical investigation to laboratory experiment. Some of the striking exceptions to this pattern have been studies of a variety of pharmacologic agents that are capable of producing changes in psychic state. These drugs, first isolated or synthesized in the laboratory, occasionally create a new clinical syndrome or a...