what is its structure?
Alkaloid
Where is it found?
Plants (peyote
Its phenthylamine what are the structural and functional characteristics?
Structural: similar to catecholamines
-implies behavioural effects of reward and/or learning
Functional: similar to LSD and psilocybin
-implies psychological effects related to hallucinatios
Mescaline acts how?
Agonist
Serotonin (5-HT2a)
-hallucinations (visual and auditory)
Norepinephrine: release in locus coeruleus
-leads to further glutamate release in cerebral cortex
What is the two fold or step wise effect?
Serotonin induces release in of NE in LC or facilitates glutamate response
- euphoria observed in smal doses, hallucinations in larger doses
- similar debate for dopamine effect
Mescaline
Intake
Ingestion
-dried peyote “button”
Mescaline pills-synthesized in labs
- difficult to pass BBB so requires more to produce smaller effects
- injections/nsufflation not effective
What are the stages in mescaline?
Stage 1
physiological effects (30min-1h) sympathetic responses physiological effect of norepinephrine
What are the stages in mescaline?
Stage 2
Psychological effects (1-2hr)
visual, auditory hallucinations (illusions/distortions)
serotonin cascade or independent response
What are the stages in mescaline?
Stage 3
entheogenic effects (2hr+) inner peace tranquility, euphoria, dream like state dopamine
Mescaline abuse
Tolerance (acute)
Accrues with repeated use (across 3-6 days) but only to hallucinogenic properties implies no tolerance to dopamine dissipates after a few days -cross tolerance with LSD and psilocybin
Mescaline abuse
Dependance
No physical dependance(despite accrued tolerance)
psycholocical dependance
-uncommon long term symptoms of anxiety and panic manifest
no observable dependance on pyote
