• Neuroscience & Pharmacology Discussion Welcome Guest
    Posting Rules Bluelight Rules
    Recent Journal Articles Chemistry Mega-Thread
    FREE Chemistry Databases! Self-Education Guide

  • N&PD Moderators: Skorpio

our brain and its response to certain drugs

kaosisallwesee

kaosisallwesee

Bluelighter
Joined
Aug 14, 2007
Messages
795
Location
uk
iv been studying chemistry since school , mostly in my own time as i haven't had time for college, mostly based on drugs since the age of 17. but iv never looked into how they actually work, i understand the basics , from common knowledge
i know that the chemical ends up i our blood from whatever route of administration, then the receptors in our brain respond to them , causing the effects they do. i know i could do a search and find the information , but i find i remember things better when i read them on bluelight , could someone explain which drugs bind with which receptors , and any other action that would contribute to the chemicals effects.
if this is in the wrong place or not allowed , sorry.
thanks
k
 
Bloody hell, you're basically asking,"explain pharmacology"!!

Could you be a bit more specific (for an example pick one drug as it'll be pretty similar stuff no matter which psychoactive drug you pick), just that's the subject of whole series of books :D
 
this should probably be in basic drug discussion, so here's a basic answers;

anway- dopamine/norepepinephrine receptors= cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine, methylphenidate, bzp ect. basically all common recreational stimulants.

mu-opiod receptors(naturally bound to by endorphins and other chemicals)= opiates.

GABA receptors= alcohol, ghb, benzodiazapines, barbituates ect.

NMDA antagonists = pcp, ketaime, dxm

5ht2-a (a specific type of serotonin receptor)= psychedelics

Cannabinoid receptors= thc, cp 55940 ect.

serotonin receptors- loads of drugs, MDMA and simmilar drugs,ssri's,meopp, 4-mta, 5-htp (Drugs whose only action is on all serotonin receptors are not considered recreational).

oxytocin receptors= MDMA and simmilar drugs, GHB (possibly, not sure about this but remember reading something about it somewhere).

sorry if this is inaccurate. I'm not as knowledgeable as some of the others on this site ;)
 
Last edited:
Some major errors-

Heroin, Oxycontin, Vicodin- bind to mu opioid receptors, they also cause downstream dopamine release as a result.

Alcohol- super promiscous, has some NMDA antagonistic properties, GABAergicity, and downstream opioid effects.

PCP, Ketamine- NMDA antagonists, PCP also inhibits the reuptake of Dopamine rather strongly.

THC - a partial agonist at the CB1 receptor, but also has relevant affinity for CB2 (the generally non-psychoactive cannabinoid receptor).

Valium, Alprazolam (Xanax)- bind promiscuously to the Benzodiazepine Receptors, so named because at the time, they were the only known (agonist) ligands. I'm pretty sure the antagonist beta-carbolines were known.

MDMA- causes the release of Serotonin most primarily. It is taken up into serotonin synaptic vesicles and causes the release, very similar to amphetamine's effect on dopamine. Pretty sure this is done by VMAT2, a monoamine transporter.

Amphetamine- causes a flood of dopamine because it's taken up into the synaptic vesicle by VMAT2. Secondarily it inhibits the reuptake of DA because of phosphorylation. Methamphetamine does the same, but more potently and has more effect on serotonin.

Cocaine, Desoxypipradol, Methcathinone, etc- are ligands for the dopamine active transporter (DAT). DAT is responsible for clearing dopamine out of the synapse. By inhibiting this effect, dopamine accumulates in the synapse and stimulates DA receptors.

LSD, Mushrooms, Mescaline (Peyote)- Bind primarily to 5HT2a receptors (Serotonin 2a) but are pretty promiscuous. IIRC, the phenethylamines like Mescaline and 2C-B are far more selective for 2a. However, they're much more likely to have mentionable affinity for DA receptors and transporters.

GHB- not surprisingly, the GHB receptor, but also GABA receptors.
 
Many drugs have very mixed effects, binding to various different receptors at once and in different ways like releasing, reuptake inhibtion, breakdown inhition, potentiation, precursors etc. But heres a list of the most common and selective ones for the most well-known receptors


5-HT (serotonin) - Tryptamines (ie LSD, psilocybin/psilocin, etc) , phenethylamines (ie amphetamines) , DXM, SSRI's (ie fluoxetine, citalopram, etc), l-tryptophan & 5-htp (precursors to 5-HT), nicotine, MAOI's (ie harmaline)

Dopamine - Phenethylamines, nicotine, DARI's (ie amineptine, bupropion), cocaine, MAOI's (ie selegiline), phenylalanine/tyrosine/levodopa (precursors to dopamine), caffeine, ephedrine, methylphenidate, opioids/opiates (ie hydrocodone, morphine, etc), cannabinoids (ie cannabis, dronabinol, THC)

Norepinephrine - phenethylamines, NRI's (ie atomoxetine), nicotine, caffeine, cannabinoids, (pseudo)ephedrine, methylphenidate

epinephrine - nicotine, caffeine, ephedrine, clonidine

GABA - GABA itself, benzodiazepines (ie alprazolam, diazepam, etc), Barbiturates, zolpidem, zopiclone, GHB, ethanol, valerian, psychoactive amanita's, kava kava, ethchlorvynol

Acetylcholine - Nicotine, psychoactive amanita's (muscimol) , DMAE (precursor)

Opioid receptors - Opiates/opioids, salvia divinorum, kratom, nicotine,

Cannabinoid receptors - cannabis, dronabinol, acetaminophen

Sigma receptors - DXM, DHEA, cocaine, heroin

histamine - Opiates/Opioids (especially codeine), promethazine (also antagonist)

Then theirs a bunch of chemicals that have their own receptors but with very little agonists that aren't endogenous like melatonin, oxytocin, vasopressin, niacin, phenethylamine, nitric oxide, HGH, GHB, etc.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top