Chemistry and Synaptic Transmitters :: Chemistry Science Scientific Essays

Chemistry and Synaptic Transmitters The most common psychoactive substances can be divided into depressants (i.e., alcohol, sedatives, hypnotics), stimulants (i.e., cocaine, amphetamines, ecstasy), opioids (i.e., morphine and heroine), and hallucinogens (i.e., PCP, LSD, cannabis). The brain has different effects to different psychoactive substances. They bind to different receptor types, and can increase or decrease the activity of neurons through several different mechanisms. Consequently, these psychoactive substances have different behavioral effects, different rates of development of tolerance, different withdrawal symptoms, and different short-term and long-term effects (Vaccarino & Rotzinger, 2004). In this team project we will take a closer look at the hallucinogen, LSD by explaining the chemistry and route of access of LSD, synaptic transmitters and the parts of neurons affected, inhibitory/excitatory potential changes, physiological changes, primary behavior changes, side effects of behavior changes, and effects reported by users. LSD is considered to be one of, if not the, most potent hallucinogenic drug known (Leicht, 1996). To understand LSD first we will give a brief history of how LSD came into existence. In 1938, Albert Hoffman was an employee in the pharmacological department of Sandoz, in Basel, Switzerland. Hoffman was studying derivatives of lysergic acid, including systematically reacting the acid group with various reagents, to produce the corresponding amides, anhydrides, esters, etc. One of these derivatives was the diethylamide, made by addition of the –NC2H5)2 group, and it was named LSD-25. But the new substance didn’t appear to have any particularly useful medical properties, although the research report noted, in passing, that â€Å"the experimental animals became restless during the narcosis†. (May, 1998). LSD was not looked at for the next five years until Hoffman couldn’t get this new substance out of his mind and decided to reexamine LSD. Hoffman stated: â€Å"A peculiar presentiment- the feeling that this substance could possess properties other than those established in the first investigations- induced me, five years after the first synthesis, to produce LSD-25 once again so that a sample could be given to the pharmacological department for further tests.† So, in the spring of 1943, he repeated the synthesis of LSD-25. Hoffman is quoted in his laboratory journal on April 19, 1943. 17:00: Beginning dizziness, feelings of anxiety, visual distortions,