From: lamontg@stein.u.washington.edu (Lamont Granquist)
Subject: Re: LSD the poop is straight
Organization: 'Operation: Mindcrime'
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 18:22:45 GMT

f0358@desire.wright.edu writes:
>Lysergic-acid diethylamide
>
>When ingested into the human body, LSD act as 5-HT (Serotonin) autoreceptor
>inhibitor, thus it is a 5-HT agonist.  LSD increases the level of active 5-HT
>molecules by disaffecting their autoreceptors (a safeguard type feature in the
>brain which reduces levels of certain neurotransmitter and the like). 

LSD also has effects on 5-HT1C receptors, and its not entirely sure what the
specific receptor mechanism is -- there's also the question of why the
psychological effects seem to last much longer than the presence of the LSD
molecule.  One thing that is fairly sure is that LSD shuts down the firing of
the seratonin neurons in the raphe, though.

>Serotonin, if I am correct, is not THE inhibitor neurotransmitter in the brain,
>as it is like other neurotransmitter in that it is both inhibitor and
>excitatory depending on location and circumstance.

The impression that I've got is that this is probably applicable to all
neurotransmitters -- they are predominantly either
inhibitory or excitory, but not in all cases.

  5-HT has been implicated in
>certain behaviors, notably dreaming and sleep, which explains the hallucinatory
>effect.  We are in effect dreaming while completely awake and aware.

Actually, a better explanation is the increased firing of the locus coereleus
by its disinhibition due to the neurons in the raphe slowing down (since you
are inhibiting an inhibitory neuron the result is excitation...).  The l.c.
has been associated with being a "sensory highway" in the brain, and has also
been associated with feelings of anxiety, and theorized that its invovled
with depression.  My guess is that the hallucinations and stimulatory effects
of LSD come from potentiating the l.c., while the effect on the 5-HT neurons
in the raphe is responsible for its entheogenic effect on the mind.

>I for one have never actually hallucinated in that I have seen things that were
>in fact not there.

Yup, you've only had *psychedelic* experiences.  To have a *hallucinogenic*
experience you're supposed to take Ketamine (so I've read).

>I have however had perceptual distortions of the visual and
>auditory kind (things sound weird and unattached to their emittors, the floor
>and walls seem wavy)  The feelings I associate with LSD trips are calmness,
>peace, empowerment, disattachment from the present reality, and most notably
>the pleasant feeling that this reality is nothing compared to what can be.  The
>most I have ever done in one sitting is four hits.  It was neat.  That is all
>that can be said.

I typically do not feel calmness, peace, empowerment, euphoria or anything like
that.  Its typically a dissasociative feeling (although I don't think thats
a very good word for it), and I always feel like I'm walking along a "wall"
that, if I'm not careful, I'll fall off of.  Its useful for insight and
seeing things from a different perspective, but its something I've got to
be damn careful with.

I believe this is a biochemical difference in the way LSD effects my 
mind, however...  most people seem to get some kind of euphoric feeling or
mild amphetamine-like stimulation that i don't get...

-- 
Lamont Granquist  lamontg@u.washington.edu
  "When dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases."
                                      -- Robert Anton Wilson