Pharmacology
LSD binds with high affinity to 5-HT2A receptors and interacts with a wide range of serotonergic and dopaminergic sites. Its unusually long duration is partly explained by the receptor structure closing over the bound molecule.
Ergoline · Serotonergic psychedelic
LSD
Lysergic acid diethylamide, a semi-synthetic ergoline first synthesized in 1938, notable for its potency and long duration of action.
History & context
Discovered by Albert Hofmann at Sandoz, LSD was distributed widely to researchers in the 1950s and 60s before becoming a cultural and political flashpoint that led to strict international scheduling.
Research landscape
Modern studies have investigated LSD for anxiety associated with life-threatening illness, cluster headache, and basic neuroscience of perception and ego dissolution.
Risks
Long duration increases exposure to difficult psychological states. Contraindications overlap with other classic psychedelics, and adulteration of illicit material is a persistent hazard.
Educational reference only. Nothing here is medical advice or a recommendation to use any substance.
More compounds