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Effects of chlorimipramine and lysergic acid diethylamide on efflux of precursor-formed 3-H-serotonin: correlations with serotonergic impulse flow.

D. Gallager, George K. Aghajanian

Journal of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics June 1, 1975 DOI: 10.1016/s0022-3565(25)30200-4 (opens in new tab)

Study at a glance

AI-extracted from the abstract
Characteristics Experimental study Peer reviewed
Population Rat brain serotonergic neurons
Interventions d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) chlorimipramine (CIMI)
Dose 75 and 150 mug/kg for LSD; 5 mg/kg and 20 mg/kg for CIMI
Topics LSD Serotonin
Citations 83
Key findings LSD reduces serotonin efflux by inhibiting impulse flow in serotonergic neurons, while chlorimipramine's effect on serotonin efflux depends on dose, with low doses producing no net change due to compensation by reuptake blockade.

Abstract

The effects of d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and chlorimipramine (CIMI) on the firing rate of serotonergic (5-HT) neurons and on the in vivo efflux of 5-HT were investigated in parallel. A cerebroventricular perfusing technique was used to measure the efflux of 3-H-5-HT formed in vivo from 3-H-tryptophan. Impulse flow in serotonergic neurons was monitored by single unit recording from raphe (5-HT) neurons. Doses of LSD and CIMI, which caused a similar degree of inhibition of raphe cell firing, were found to affect 5-HT efflux differently. LSD, at both the 75, and 150 mug/kg doses, produced a similar decrease in 3-H-5-HT efflux. In contrast, CIMI at a low dose (5 mg/kg) did not reduce 5-HT efflux, despite an inhibition in impulse flow. At a high dose (20 mg/kg), CIMI produced an increase in 3-H-5-HT efflux. We conclude that 1) LSD decreased 3-H-5-HT efflux by directly inhibiting impulse flow in 5-HT neurons and/or by a local effect on 5-HT terminals and 2) a low dose of CIMI produces no net change in 3-H-5-HT efflux because a reduction in impulse flow-dependent 5-HT release compensates for blockade by CIMI of 5-HT reuptake.

Comparable studies

Other experimental studies on LSD, most cited first.

Study Year Design Participants
Neural correlates of the LSD experience revealed by multimodal neuroimaging. Human participants 2016 Experimental study
Crystal structure of an LSD-bound human serotonin receptor 2017 Experimental study with structural biology and molecular dynamics simulations
Lysergic Acid Diethylamide: Sensitive Neuronal Units in the Midbrain Raphe Midbrain neurons containing serotonin 1968 Experimental study
Connectome-harmonic decomposition of human brain activity reveals dynamical repertoire re-organization under LSD. Human brain 2017 Experimental study
LSD-Assisted Psychotherapy in Patients with Terminal Cancer Cancer patients 1973 Experimental study n = 60

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