Experimental Psychiatry. V — Psilocybine, a New Psychotogenic Drug

PSILOCYBINE (Fig. 1), the phosphoric ester of 4-hydroxytryptamine, has been established by Hofmann et al.1 2 3 4 as the active principle of the Mexican mushroom family Psilocybe mexicana Heim. The chemists emphasize the fact that this chemical is the only phosphorylated indole compound that is known to occur in nature and that it is remarkable in that it is an indole substituted at the fourth position. The pharmacology of psilocybine5 in animal experiments has been summarized by Cerletti as follows:In the intact animal, it produces pupillary dilatation, pilo-erection, tachycardia, tachypnea, hyperthermia, hyperglycemia, blood pressure increase, contraction of nictitating membrane. The . . .