Serotonin and hallucinogens.
George K. Aghajanian, Gerard J. Marek
Neuropsychopharmacology August 1999 DOI: 10.1016/s0893-133x(98)00135-3 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Review Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Serotonin |
| Key findings | Proposes that psychedelic hallucinogens act as partial agonists at 5-HT2A receptors, and that a 5-HT2A-mediated enhancement of glutamatergic transmission in the cerebral cortex may explain their cognitive, perceptual, and affective effects. |
Abstract
This brief review traces the serotonin (5-HT) hypothesis of the action of hallucinogenic drugs from the early 1950s to the present day. There is now converging evidence from biochemical, electrophysiological, and behavioral studies that the two major classes of psychedelic hallucinogens, the indoleamines (e.g., LSD) and the phenethylamines (e.g., mescaline), have a common site of action as partial agonists at 5-HT2A and other 5-HT2 receptors in the central nervous system. The noradrenergic locus coeruleus and the cerebral cortex are among the regions where hallucinogens have prominent effects through their actions upon a 5-HT2A receptors. Recently, we have observed a novel effect of hallucinogens--a 5-HT2A receptor-mediated enhancement of nonsynchronous, late components of glutamatergic excitatory postsynaptic potentials at apical dendrites of layer V cortical pyramidal cells. We propose that an effect of hallucinogens upon glutamatergic transmission in the cerebral cortex may be responsible for the higher-level cognitive, perceptual, and affective distortions produced by these drugs.
Comparable studies
Other narrative reviews on serotonin, most cited first.
Citations in the library
Cited by 128
- Safety, Tolerability, and Efficacy of Psilocybin in 9 Patients With Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry November 15, 2006
- Acute psychological and physiological effects of psilocybin in healthy humans: a double-blind, placebo-controlled dose?effect study Psychopharmacology March 1, 2004
- Psychobiology of Altered States of Consciousness. Psychological Bulletin 2005
- Serotonin research: contributions to understanding psychoses TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences August 1, 2008
- Hallucinogens and Serotonin 5-HT2A Receptor-Mediated Signaling Pathways Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences 2017
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Cites 13
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and 8 more in the library