Right hemisphere involvement in mescaline-induced psychosis

Oepen, G.; Fuenfgeld, M.; Harrington, Anne; Hermle, Leo; Botsch, Hanno

doi:10.1016/0165-1781(89)90081-4

Cited by 20 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…Developmental processes are assumed to be dependent on genetic as well as prenatal and early-postnatal influences [33]. Moreover, psychotic episodes in turn lead to decreased or reversed functional hemispheric asymmetries [25,31,32]. Consequently, there may be an interaction of developmental and psychotic-related deviations in interhemispheric asymmetries [8].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Instability in functional motor laterality of children and adolescents with endogenous psychosis and predominantly motor disturbances

Gorynia

Dudeck

Neumärker

1994

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Nuerosci

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A group of eight unmediated right-handed children and adolescents with endogenous psychosis and predominantly motor disturbances and two right-handed control groups (6 healthy subjects and 10 patients with different psychiatric diseases) were investigated with the help of a tapping-test series. The most important finding was related to differences in the stability of functional motor laterality between controls and psychotics. Stability of instability in functional motor laterality was identified by referring to the standard deviation (SD) of percentile right-left tapping differences calculated for each subject for the various parts of the tapping-test series. The high SDs in psychotics, in contrast to the low SDs in both control groups, point to increased variations or instabilities in the functional superiority of the preferred hand. Instability in functional motor laterality in this test is considered characteristic of this subgroup of patients, and may be due to a partial relapse to a lower hierarchical stage of handedness.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Instability in functional motor laterality of children and adolescents with endogenous psychosis and predominantly motor disturbances

Gorynia

Dudeck

Neumärker

1994

Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Nuerosci

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“…Thus, clinical studies with mescaline attempting to better understand the “hallucinating state” and/or the basis of psychosis in normal subjects and psychiatric patients were subsequently carried out with valuable results, , prompting the controversial idea of using this drug as a tool to study the molecular and clinical nature of psychosis. This received moderate attention during the ensuing decades and has been reviewed recently, now as an alternative for the development of more effective strategies to treat schizophrenia. , Indeed, some evidence is consistent with the notion that an acute psychedelic experience with mescaline may be similar to acute schizophrenia, involving striato-limbic hyperactivity in the right brain hemisphere. − Involvement of the right hemisphere plus frontal lobe hyperactivity was later confirmed in normal volunteers after mescaline ingestion . Early experimental evidence obtained in rodents demonstrated that mescaline possesses a mixed serotonergic and dopaminergic mechanism of action, as standard psychomotor responses in rodents could be blocked administering either methysergide or haloperidol, and actions on serotonergic and dopaminergic receptors were implicated. , Nevertheless, work performed in rodents further demonstrated the involvement of 5-HT 2 receptors in eliciting the psychotropic effects of mescaline, as shown by drug discrimination studies .…”

Section: Pharmacology and Structure–activity Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 92%

Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Mescaline

Cassels

Sáez-Briones

2018

ACS Chem. Neurosci.

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Archeological studies in the United States, Mexico, and Peru suggest that mescaline, as a cactus constituent, has been used for more than 6000 years. Although it is a widespread cactus alkaloid, it is present in high concentrations in few species, notably the North American peyote ( Lophophora williamsii) and the South American wachuma ( Trichocereus pachanoi, T. peruvianus, and T. bridgesii). Spanish 16th century chroniclers considered these cacti "diabolic", leading to their prohibition, but their use persisted to our days and has been spreading for the last 150 years. In the late 1800s, peyote attracted scientific attention; mescaline was isolated, and its role in the psychedelic effects of peyote tops or "mescal buttons" was demonstrated. Its structure was established by synthesis in 1929, and alternative routes were developed, providing larger amounts for pharmacological and biosynthetic research. Although its effects are attributed mainly to its action as a 5-HT serotonin receptor agonist, mescaline binds in a similar concentration range to 5-HT and α receptors. It is largely excreted unchanged in human urine, and its metabolic products are apparently unrelated to its psychedelic properties. Its low potency is probably responsible for its relative neglect by recreational substance users, as the successful search for structure-activity relationships in the hallucinogen field focused largely on finding more potent analogues. Renewed interest in the possible therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs may hopefully lead to novel insights regarding the commonalities and differences between the actions of individual classic hallucinogens.

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“…The accidental finding regarding the hallucinogenic effects of a synthesized substance, D-Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), by a chemist named Albert Hoffman, and the later discovery (1948) of serotonin in bovine blood serum [11], helped to elucidate that these hallucinogens stimulate serotoninergic receptors (5-HT) in frontal cortical neurons [74]. Studies with mescaline are few in number, but it is known that its effects are accompanied by a "hyperfrontal pattern of increased blood flow", which correlates to mescaline-induced psychological effects [75,76]. A common effect of hallucinogenic compounds is the sensitization of serotonin and norepinephrine receptors.…”

Section: Mescaline and Nn-dimethyl Tryptaminementioning

confidence: 99%

Historical and Current Perspectives of Neuroactive Compounds Derived from Latin America

Aguayo

Guzmán²,

Pérez³

et al. 2006

MRMC

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Plants and invertebrates in Latin America have contributed to a great extent in the use, discovery and development of novel neuroactive tools. Significantly, these neuroactive drugs have proven to be particularly important for our current understanding of the physiology and pharmacology of the nervous system. In addition, these discoveries have helped to build the modern and successful pharmacological business that we know today. For example, curare helped to introduce the use of muscle relaxing agents into modern surgical techniques. The discovery of cocaine from the leaves of Peruvian coca plants was instrumental in the discovery of local anesthetics. The search and discovery for useful neuroactive compounds derived from Latin America has also been ongoing in other areas and new applications for quinine, capsaicin and epibatidine were recently described. Besides these organic compounds, several peptides produced by spiders and other invertebrates to hunt their prey also induce effects in channels and membrane receptors at very low concentrations, indicating their high potency and selectivity. It is likely that new pharmaceutics will be developed from these molecules. The interest to renew the search for new compounds is timely, since largely unexplored lands, such as the Amazon and Patagonia, hold an important number of plants and animals that contain exciting new active compounds. With the introduction of new techniques to isolate, identify and characterize the molecular targets and actions of chemical entities, together with the need for more potent and selective compounds to treat neurological conditions, it is necessary to broaden the current exploratory effort in order to find more beneficial uses.

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Right hemisphere involvement in mescaline-induced psychosis

Cited by 20 publications

References 2 publications

Instability in functional motor laterality of children and adolescents with endogenous psychosis and predominantly motor disturbances

Instability in functional motor laterality of children and adolescents with endogenous psychosis and predominantly motor disturbances

Dark Classics in Chemical Neuroscience: Mescaline

Historical and Current Perspectives of Neuroactive Compounds Derived from Latin America

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