Until very recently, comparatively few scientists were studying hallucinogenic drugs. Nevertheless, selective antagonists are available for relevant serotonergic receptors, the majority of which have now been cloned, allowing for reasonably thorough pharmacological investigation. Animal models sensitive to the behavioral effects of the hallucinogens have been established and exploited....
Patients with schizophrenia exhibit diminished prepuLse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle reflex and deficits in the attentional moduLation of PPI. Pharmacological challenges with hallucinogens are used as models for psychosis in both humans and animals. RemarkabLy, in contrast to the findings in schizophrenic patients and in animal hallucinogen modeLs of psychosis, previous studies with...
A series of conformationally restricted analogues of the hallucinogenic phenethylamine 1 (2,5-dimethoxy-4-bromophenethylamine, 2C-B) was synthesized to test several hypotheses concerning the bioactive conformation of phenethylamine ligands upon binding to the 5-HT(2A) receptor. These benzocycloalkane analogues were assayed for their receptor binding affinity and ability to activate downstream...
The German pages of the Internet were searched for the presence of the hallucinogenic herbal drug Salvia divinorum, which is not dealt with in current addiction medicine or psychiatric text books. The investigation is part of the EU sponsored project "Psychonaut" as preparatory work for the development of an Internet-based early warning system. The first 100 websites of the search using "Salvia...
Pharmacological challenges with hallucinogens are used as models for psychosis in experimental research. The state induced by glutamate antagonists such as phencyclidine (PCP) is often considered as a more appropriate model of psychosis than the state induced by serotonergic hallucinogens such as lysergic acid (LSD), psilocybin and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). However, so far, this question has...
Psychedelic or hallucinogenic drugs such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), 3, 4, 5-trimethoxy-β-phenethylamine (mescaline), psilocybin, 3, 4-methylenedioxymethamph-etamine (MDMA), N, N-dimethyltrypta-mine (DMT) and their relations occur in abundance throughout the natural world, and have been used by humankind for thousands of years.
Aim: To highlight the changes that may take place in the visual system of the class A drug abuser.Methods: A literature review was carried out of ocular/visual sequelae of the more common class A drugs. These include stimulants (cocaine and crack cocaine), narcotics (heroin, morphine, methadone) and hallucinogenics (ecstasy, lysergic acid diethylamide, magic mushrooms, mescaline,...
Most neuropharmacological agents and many drugs of abuse modulate the activity of heptahelical G-protein-coupled receptors. Although the effects of these ligands result from changes in cellular signaling, their neurobehavioral activity may not correlate with results of in vitro signal transduction assays. 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) partial agonists that have similar...
Driving under the influence of drugs is an issue of growing concern in the industrialized countries as a risk and a cause for road accidents. In forensic toxicology, the increasing number of samples for determination of drugs in blood is mainly due to zero-tolerance laws in several countries and well-trained police officers who can better recognize drivers under the influence of drugs of abuse....
Hallucinogenic drug-induced states are considered as models for acute schizophrenic disorders (experimental psychoses). In a double-blind study with healthy volunteers we investigated the influence of the serotonergic hallucinogen psilocybin, the ecstasy-like drug 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDE), the stimulant d- methamphetamine and placebo on covert orienting of spatial attention (n =...