LSD Study Probes Hallucinogen's Effect on Brain

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This finding has implications for drugs that are used to treat psychiatric and neurological diseases, Sealfon said.

"It suggests the differential reacting of receptors is likely to be important in understanding why different drugs, used for treating brain diseases, have different effects even if they are directed at the same target. We can use that information to develop new drugs that are more specific and have reduced chances of causing undesirable side effects," he said.

One expert believes the findings may not cover all hallucinogens, however.

"It would nice to see these findings replicated in a different mammal," said Dr. John Halpern, associate director for substance abuse research at McLean Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston. "It would also be interesting to expand this to drugs that are not considered part of the classic hallucinogens, such as PCP, which target other receptors," said Halpern, who's done his own research in this area.

Halpern agreed that the findings "will have far-reaching implications in understanding underlying mechanisms" that underlie the effects of certain drugs. "It will also help tease out why these substances claim to have religious effects, positive effects and their negative effects," he said.

In addition, the findings could lead to new and better drugs to treat mental illness.

"There are many medications that we have in psychopharmacology that we don't quite understand how they work," Halpern said. "We can say what they do in the brain, but this may bring us one step closer to peeling away the veil of why drugs that alter our perceptions of reality can have therapeutic or harmful effects," he said.

More information

There's more on hallucinogens and their dangers at the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse.