From: Cyrus McNally (nougat@ucla.edu)
Date: Wed Mar 15 2000 - 12:01:27 MST
Ian Goddard wrote:
> I don't think we can ever say the two drugs
> are the same. But the research I cited along with
> additional studies link PCP-induced pathologoical
> behavior to increased 5-HT. Of all attributes of
> PCP's effect, that's a most-relevant category.
.....
> Since both drugs are SSRI's
> that alter behavior via increasing serotonin, and
> since hallucinations are also linked to increasing
> serotonin, it's plausible to hypnotize a common basis.
Actually, PCP's primary effect is to act as a noncompetetive inhibitor
at NMDA receptors, which themselves have nothing to do with the 5-HT
pathway. They act as an antagonist for these receptors, which respond to the
NT's Glutamate and Glycine only (Ketamine and dextromethorphan have the same
action).
Whether or not this antagonist has anything to do with
increasing/decreasing serotonin levels is beyond me, but to say that the
drugs "do similar things" would be untrue, since Prozac is directly involved
in the 5-HT pathway, blocking the reuptake of serotonin (thus an SSRI), and
PCP isn't.
Further evidence is found in the fact that PCP induced psychosis cannot
be treated with antipsychotics, which might sometimes lead to fatal
tachycardia, but can be treated with benzodiazapenes (Valium), which acts on
the amino acid neurotransmitter systems (which is what Glutamate and Glycine
are). Cheers,
Cyrus
----------------------------------------------------------
"To know the brain is the same thing as knowing the material course of
thought and will; the same thing as discovering the intimate history of life
in its perpetual dual with eternal forces..."
-Santiago Ramon y Cajal
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