The drug PCP or called Phencyclidine - Research Paper Example

PCP operates as an NMDA receptor opponent that barricades the actions of the NMDA receptor plus, just as most antiglutamatergic hallucinogens, but is considerably more hazardous than other hallucinogens. Other NMDA receptor opponents include tiletamine, ketamine, nitrous oxide and dextromethorphan (Croft, 1998). Even though, the prime psychoactive consequences of PCP only take a few hours, its overall elimination rate from the body is up to nine days or longer. As a recreational treatment Phencyclidine may be smoked, ingested, or inhaled.

Phencyclidine is well recognized for its harmful effects on ionotropic glutamate receptors in rats’ brain homogenate as well as the NMDA receptor in rats. As such, Phencyclidine is an NMDA receptor opponent. NMDA receptors intercedes excitation. Studies, however, have proved that Phencyclidine produces extensive cortical activation in a human being as well as in rodents. Research also proves that Phencyclidine slows down nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Analogues of Phencyclidine show unstable potency at nicotinic acetylcholine receptors as well as NMDA receptors.

In several brain sections, these results are thought to operate synergistically by slowing down excitatory actions (Croft, 1998). Phencyclidine, like tiletamine, also acts as a D2 receptor limited agonist in the NMDA receptor of rats. This action is related to some of the psychotic aspects of Phencyclidine intoxication, which is verified by the use of D2 receptor antagonists for instance haloperidol in treating Phencyclidine psychosis. The relative resistance to pain is probably produced by the enkephalin system as well as indirect relations with the endogenous endorphin, as has been recommended by researches carried out to rats.

Phencyclidine can also function as a dopamine reuptake inhibitor (Croft, 1998). Over 30 diverse analogues of