Psychological Effects and Metabolism of N,N-diethyltryptamine in Man
Archives of General Psychiatry – September 01, 1966
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Tryptamines like N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and N,N-diethyltryptamine (DET) can trigger psychotogenic symptoms akin to LSD and mescaline. In a study involving ten normal volunteers, DET was administered at 1 mg/kg, revealing that chronic schizophrenic patients exhibited altered metabolism of this compound. Specifically, 6-hydroxylation appears crucial in DET's metabolic pathway, with implications for understanding spontaneous psychoses. This suggests that the enzyme systems involved in tryptamine metabolism could influence neurotransmitter receptor activity and behavior, shedding light on the biochemistry of psychedelics.
Abstract
SIMPLE INDOLE derivatives like the alkylated tryptamines, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and N,N-diethyltryptamine (DET), produce psychotogenic-like symptoms similar to lysergic acid diethyemide (LSD) and mescaline.1-4 One of the important metabolic pathways of DET has been shown to be by 6-hydroxylation.5The known metabolic pathways of DET are summarized in Fig 1. Other investigators have reported that naturally occurring indole derivatives, ie, tryptamine itself, skatole, melatonin, can also be hydroxylated in the six position.6-8This suggests the possibility that this enzyme system might be involved in spontaneously occurring psychoses. The present study was undertaken to compare the metabolism of DET in a group of chronic schizophrenic patients and in a group of normal volunteers and to correlate the individual rate of DET metabolism with the psychological effects in man. Methods Experimental Procedure.—A 1 mg/kg dose of DET was administered intramuscularly to ten normal