Discriminative Stimulus Effects of Hallucinogenic Drugs: a Possible Relation to Reinforcing and Aversive Effects
Journal of Pharmacological Sciences June 12, 2019 Tomohisa Mori, Kazumi Yoshizawa, Masahiro Shibasaki et al. 13 citations
The subjective effects of drugs, such as euphoria or dysphoria, can be studied using the drug discrimination procedure. Over the past two decades, abuse of hallucinogenic club drugs like PCP, MDMA, LSD, and ketamine has increased, especially among younger people, but the mechanisms behind their discriminative stimulus effects remain unclear. This review of recent animal research identifies at least two plausible mechanisms: one mediated mainly by 5-HT2 receptors, and another mediated through sigma-1 (σ1)-receptor chaperone regulated by an endogenous hallucinogenic ligand.