N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is a substituted tryptamine that occurs in many plants and animals, including humans, and which is both a derivative and a structural analog of tryptamine. DMT is used as a psychedelic drug and prepared by various cultures for ritual purposes as an entheogen.
Lysergic acid diethylamide, commonly known as LSD, and known colloquially as acid or lucy is a potent psychedelic drug. Effects typically include intensified thoughts, emotions, and sensory perception. At sufficiently high dosages LSD manifests primarily mental, visual, and auditory hallucinations. Dilated pupils, increased blood pressure, and increased body temperature are typical. Effects typically begin within half an hour and can last for up to 20 hours. LSD is also capable of causing mystical experiences and ego dissolution. It is used mainly as a recreational drug or for spiritual reasons. LSD is both the prototypical psychedelic and one of the "classical" psychedelics, being the psychedelic with the greatest scientific and cultural significance. LSD is synthesized as a solid compound, typically in the form of a powder or a crystalline material. This solid LSD is then dissolved in a liquid solvent, such as ethanol or distilled water, to create a solution. The liquid serves as a carrier for the LSD, allowing for accurate dosage and administration onto small pieces of blotter paper called tabs. LSD is typically either swallowed or held under the tongue. In pure form, LSD is clear or white in color, has no smell, and is crystalline. It breaks down with exposure to ultraviolet light.
Recreational drug use is the use of one or more psychoactive drugs to induce an altered state of consciousness, either for pleasure or for some other casual purpose or pastime. When a psychoactive drug enters the user's body, it induces an intoxicating effect. Recreational drugs are commonly divided into three categories: depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens.
Psilocybin is a naturally occurring psychedelic prodrug compound produced by more than 200 species of fungi. The most potent are members of genus Psilocybe, such as P. azurescens, P. semilanceata, and P. cyanescens, but psilocybin has also been isolated from about a dozen other genera. Psilocybin is itself biologically inactive but is quickly converted by the body to psilocin, which has mind-altering effects similar, in some aspects, to those of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline, and dimethyltryptamine (DMT). In general, the effects include euphoria, visual and mental hallucinations, changes in perception, distorted sense of time, and perceived spiritual experiences. It can also cause adverse reactions such as nausea and panic attacks.
Psychedelics are a subclass of hallucinogenic drugs whose primary effect is to trigger non-ordinary mental states and an apparent expansion of consciousness. Also referred to as classic hallucinogens or serotonergic hallucinogens, the term psychedelic is sometimes used more broadly to include various types of hallucinogens, such as those which are atypical or adjacent to psychedelia like salvia and MDMA, respectively. This article makes use of the narrower classical definition of psychedelics. Classic psychedelics generally cause specific psychological, visual, and auditory changes, and oftentimes a substantially altered state of consciousness. They have had the largest influence on science and culture, and include mescaline, LSD, psilocybin, and DMT.
Salvinorin A is the main active psychotropic molecule in Salvia divinorum. Salvinorin A is considered a dissociative hallucinogen.
Psychedelic therapy refers to the proposed use of psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, and ayahuasca, to treat mental disorders. As of 2021, psychedelic drugs are controlled substances in most countries and psychedelic therapy is not legally available outside clinical trials, with some exceptions.
Amides of lysergic acid are collectively known as lysergamides, and include a number of compounds with potent agonist and/or antagonist activity at various serotonin and dopamine receptors.
Ibogaine is a naturally occurring psychoactive substance found in plants in the family Apocynaceae such as Tabernanthe iboga, Voacanga africana, and Tabernaemontana undulata. It is a psychedelic with dissociative properties.
Polysubstance use or poly drug use refers to the use of combined psychoactive substances. Polysubstance use may be used for entheogenic, recreational, or off-label indications, with both legal and illegal substances. In many cases one drug is used as a base or primary drug, with additional drugs to leaven or compensate for the side effects, or tolerance, of the primary drug and make the experience more enjoyable with drug synergy effects, or to supplement for primary drug when supply is low.
The 5-HT2A receptor is a subtype of the 5-HT2 receptor that belongs to the serotonin receptor family and is a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). The 5-HT2A receptor is a cell surface receptor, but has several intracellular locations.
Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the GDNF gene. GDNF is a small protein that potently promotes the survival of many types of neurons. It signals through GFRα receptors, particularly GFRα1. It is also responsible for the determination of spermatogonia into primary spermatocytes, i.e. it is received by RET proto-oncogene (RET) and by forming gradient with SCF it divides the spermatogonia into two cells. As the result there is retention of spermatogonia and formation of spermatocyte.
A serotonin receptor agonist is an agonist of one or more serotonin receptors. They activate serotonin receptors in a manner similar to that of serotonin, a neurotransmitter and hormone and the endogenous ligand of the serotonin receptors.
A monoamine releasing agent (MRA), or simply monoamine releaser, is a drug that induces the release of a monoamine neurotransmitter from the presynaptic neuron into the synapse, leading to an increase in the extracellular concentrations of the neurotransmitter. Many drugs induce their effects in the body and/or brain via the release of monoamine neurotransmitters, e.g., trace amines, many substituted amphetamines, and related compounds.
Iboga-type alkaloids are a set of monoterpene indole alkaloids comprising naturally occurring compounds found in Tabernanthe and Tabernaemontana, as well as synthetic structural analogs. Naturally occurring iboga-type alkaloids include ibogamine, ibogaine, tabernanthine, and other substituted ibogamines (see below). Many iboga-type alkaloids display biological activities such as cardiac toxicity and psychoactive effects, and some have been studied as potential treatments for drug addiction.
AAZ-A-154 is a novel isotryptamine derivative which acts as a 5-HT2A receptor agonist discovered and synthesized by the lab of Professor David E. Olson at UCDavis. Animal studies suggest that it produces antidepressant effects without the psychedelic action typical of drugs from this class. In tests, AAZ-A-154 had antidepressant effects in mice without causing the head-twitch response linked to hallucinogenic effects. Due to the rapidly-induced and enduring neuroplasticity, AAZ-A-154 is a member of the class of compounds known as non-hallucinogenic psychoplastogens. This compound, as well as related compounds, are licensed by Delix Therapeutics and are being developed as potential medicines for neuropsychiatric disorders.
Psychoplastogens are a group of small molecule drugs that produce rapid and sustained effects on neuronal structure and function, intended to manifest therapeutic benefit after a single administration. Several existing psychoplastogens have been identified and their therapeutic effects demonstrated; several are presently at various stages of development as medications including Ketamine, MDMA, Scopolamine, and the serotonergic psychedelics, including LSD, psilocin, DMT, and 5-MeO-DMT. Compounds of this sort are being explored as therapeutics for a variety of brain disorders including depression, addiction, and PTSD. The ability to rapidly promote neuronal changes via mechanisms of neuroplasticity was recently discovered as the common therapeutic activity and mechanism of action.
David E. Olson is an American chemist and neuroscientist. He is an associate professor of chemistry, biochemistry and molecular medicine at the University of California, Davis, and is the founding director of the UC Davis Institute for Psychedelics and Neurotherapeutics.
Delix Therapeutics is an American biotech company based in Boston, Massachusetts. The company develops novel neuroplasticity-promoting therapeutics for central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was co-founded in 2019 by David E. Olson and Nick Haft.
