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PSYCHOTOMIMETIC DRUGS Workshop Series of Pharmacology Section National Institute of Mental Health No PSYCHOTOMIMETIC DRUGS Workshop Series of Pharmacology Section National Institute of Mental Health No. 4 PSYCHOTOMIMETIC DRUGS Proceedings of a Workshop Organized by the Pharmacology Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health Held at the University of California, Irvine, on January 25-26,1969. Edited by Daniel H. Efron, M.D., Ph.D. Chief, Pharmacology Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, and Clinical Professor of Psychopharmacology, Department of Psychiatry, University of Maryland School of Medicine RAVEN PRESS • New York SCIENTIFIC LIBRARY ELI LILLY & CO. 3^'0V I fl P.O. //P(3sr \^> Date V-SI-?* Cost fo-flS" The opinions expressed and any conclusions drawn are those of the participants of the meeting upon which this book is based, and are not to be understood as necessarily having the endorsement of, or representing the viewpoints of, the Public Health Service of the US. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. © 1970 by Raven Press Books, Ltd. All rights reserved. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be duplicated or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the publisher. Made in the United States of America. Standard Book Number 91121647-3 Library of Congress catalog card number 73-89388 Preface The revolution in the area of psychotropic drugs has as a by-product the enormous development of so-called psychotomimetic compounds. One has to admit that some psychotomimetic substances were used a long time ago, e.g., Asclepiades (128-56 B.C.), a Bithynian physician, claimed that "papaver alienationem facit"—that poppy juice ingestion causes mental derangement.1 But the new era of psychotropic drugs brought with it the isolation of active substances from natural sources, their syntheses and the creation of many and much more active compounds. I shall mention only some of those which have been known for a long time: peyote (Lophophora Williamsii, a Mexican dumpling cactus), from which mescaline was isolated; teonanacatl, a com pound used by the Aztecs and obtained from a mushroom, Panaeolus cam- panulatus; soma, whose identity is unknown but which, according to a new theory advocated by R. G. Wasson,2 is a mushroom, fly agaric {Amanita muscaria); iboga [Tabernanthe iboga) roots; coca (Erythroxylon coca) leaves; quat (from Catha edulis, an Ethiopian plant); seeds of Piptadenia peregrina, and many more. The use of these psychotomimetic substances in ancient times was either for religious, ceremonial or recreational purposes. They were used in a very restricted way and, one may say, in an orderly fashion. Their use was limited in frequency, in dosage and in the age of users. The new era brought with it the use of psychotomimetic drugs on a much larger scale with no restrictions on the frequency, the dosage or in the user's age. In other words, many people started to abuse the compounds and to use them in a disorderly manner as well as to use drugs of unknown pharmacology and activity. The newer times also brought with them the so-called "experimenting" with drugs by people who do not possess enough knowledge in tiiis area and, what is even worse, enough maturity to judge these "experiments." Hard scientific data are lack ing in many cases. Even the terms used to describe these drugs are not well established and do not always cover the same spectrum of activity. The term most frequently i Caelius Aurelianus: On Acute Diseases and on Chronic Diseases. University of Chicagocago Press,Press, Chicago, 1 1950. 2R. G. Wasson: 5Soma—Divine Mushroom of Immortality. Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1968. 6 P R E F A C E used (and used also in this publication) is psychotomimetic drug or psychoto mimetic compound. This name means that a drug causes a state that mimics naturally occurring psychosis, although this contention is not really true. An other term is hallucinogenic drug, which indicates that the drug causes halluci nations—but we know that this is not always the case. Some scientists use the term psychotogenic. It is also rather arbitrary as to which compounds are put in this category. The problem of psychotomimetic compounds is a "hot" one because of its social, political and even economic implications. But these were not the aspects that we wanted to stress during this workshop, and these considerations did not influence the selection of the participants. We deeply believe that only the accumulation of more scientific data, the distribution of existing data and the establishment of new directions for research can enable us to have a pro found understanding of the mechanism of action of these compounds. This, in turn, will enable us to solve the other problems. We were trying to organize a multidisciplinary meeting with the participation of neurologists, pharmacolo gists, physiologists, psychiatrists, psychologists, etc., who will help bring new points of view and show new possibilities for research in this difficult area. To make possible a structure around which free, uninhibited and un limited discussions could develop, we had to limit both the number of partici pants and the number of presentations. This workshop was held in conjunc tion with the meeting of the Preclinical Psychopharmacology Research Review Committee of the National Institute of Mental Health whose members also participated in it During the meeting new data and new approaches were presented and discussed. I feel that the results will contribute to a better understanding of the field. The workshop was divided into four sessions. Each paper was followed by a discussion, the last paper of each session by a combined discussion of the given paper and general discussion of the session. At the end of the meeting we held a general discussion of all proceedings, and a summary of the work shop was given. The editor feels that the discussions contributed greatly toward the stated goals of the workshop. They brought out new ideas, new data (e.g., on marihuana), possibilities of new methodology (e.g., predicting hallucinations), etc. Therefore, the discussion is included verbatim with only some editorial changes. In one case, where the given paper could not be printed for reasons beyond the control of the editor, the discussion, because of the extensive amount of information in it, is included nonetheless. The editor begs the indulgence of the reader if some parts of this discussion refer to statements not printed in this book, but this was the only way that it could be presented. Because of the multidisciplinary nature of this workshop, problems of PREFACE 7 terminology and the extent of discussion, no restrictions were imposed on the participants with regard to nomenclature used, order of material or uniformity of presentation and reference listing. The diversity of form and style of the various presentations and statements were not altered for publication. I would like to extend our deep appreciation to the University of Cali fornia at Irvine and especially to its Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Dr. Roger W. Russell, for his gracious hospitality and help in organizing this meeting. I would also like to thank his staff, and especially Mrs. Nancy CoDett, for their assistance. Many special thanks are due Dr. Albert A. Manian of the Pharmacology Section, Psychopharmacology Research Branch, N.I.M.H. for his invaluable help in preparing this manuscript I would like to express my appreciation to the publisher, Raven Press, and its Director, Alan M. Edelson, for their help and effort in publishing this book in the shortest possible time and in giving it the most desirable aesthetic appearance. Finally, I would like to express my deepest thanks to all speakers, dis cussants and participants in the workshop. The success of the meeting as well as the stimulation of new developments in the area of psychotomimetics should be attributed to their knowledge and contributions. It is entirely their successl Daniel H. Efron Bethesda, Maryland September 15,1969 Contents SESSION I: CHEMISTRY Alfred Burger, PH.D. and Bo Holmstedt, M.D., Co-Chairmen Chemistry and Structure-Activity Relationships of the Psychotomimetics 21 Alexander T. Shulgin, PhJ). D i s c u s s i o n 3 8 Steric Models of Drugs Predicting Psychedelic Activity 43 Solomon H. Snyder, M.D. and Elliott Richelson, MD. D i s c u s s i o n 5 9 Stereochemical and Membrane Studies with the Psychotomimetic Glycolate Esters 67 Leo G. Abood, Ph.D. Discussion and Chairmen's Closing Remarks 74 SESSION H: PHARMACOLOGY Daniel H. Efron, M.D., Ph.D. and Peter Waser, M.D., Ph.D., Co-Chairmen Biochemical and Metabolic Considerations Concerning the Mechanism of Action of Amphetamine and Related Compounds 83 Fridolin Sulser, M.D. and Elaine Sanders-Bush, Ph.D. D i s c u s s i o n 9 4 Pharmacological Studies of 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine, LSD and Other Hallucinogens 105 Peter K. Gessner, Ph.D. Discussion ••• 118 9 10 CONTENTS Mechanism of the Facilitating Effects of Amphetamine on Behavior . 123 Larry Stein, Ph.D. and C. David Wise, Ph.D. D i s c u s s i o n 1 4 5 The Combination of Gas Chromatography and Mass Spectrometry in the Identification of Drugs and Hallucinogens 151 Bo Holmstedt, M.D. D i s c u s s i o n J 5 3 Turnover of Monoamines in Brain Under the Influence of Muscimol and Ibotenic Acid, Two Psychoactive Principles of Amanita Muscaria . 155 Peter G. Waser, M.D., Ph.D. and Petra Bersin, MD. D i s c u s s i o n 1 6 2 SESSION III: PHYSIOLOGY, NEUROPATHOLOGY, and NEUROCHEMISTRY Morris A. Lipton, M.D., Ph.D. and Wallace D.
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