Serotonin, LSD, and the Epiphysis (Third Eye)
In the last section we described some of the physiology of serotonin, the pineal gland and its synthesis of the hormones serotonin and melatonin. Serotonin is a normal, necessary chemical transmitter of electrical impulses across the synapses (the gaps between nerve cell bodies). It is intriguing to find that certain hallucinogens have the same chemical skeletons as serotonin. [29] This really doesn't surprise neurologicians, for the fact of psychedelically induced psychosis has been known.
As mentioned, serotonin is one of the four main neurohumors or neurotransmitters in higher vertebrate nervous systems. I have mentioned the location of serotonin production and note here that the serotonin is transported via the bloodstream to the nerve cells throughout the body, but most especially in the neurons of the brain. Here they accumulate in the their minutest molecular form. The molecule serotonin is utilized by the nerve cells for the complete execution of electrical impulses across the synaptic gap (which is the micro-gap between every connection of every nerve cell in the entire nervous system). The impulses comes along the nerve cell going through the electro-chemical processes with the ionic forms of calcium and potassium (the two vitals of the nervous system) until they reach the terminal end of the cell's dendrites. Upon reaching the end of the electrical impulse is translated into the neurochemical serotonin. This is then "squeezed" out into intercellular space only to connect and meet the other side which is the beginning of the next nerve soma (lining of the nerve cell). [30]
Few molecules can penetrate what is known in biology as the "blood brain barrier". Those that do go directly to the neuron. After that it becomes a matter of their ability to imitate one of the neurotransmitters. Our neurons have a safety device for this type of situation. The neurotransmitters have a unique molecular shape and can only fit in a specific slot on the synaptic surface. Mind-altering drugs all operate on mimicking one of the neurotransmitters. (Most all drugs work internally, one exception is alcohol. Alcohol's effect is caused by altering the sensitivity of the some or cell wall.)
LSD happens to be one of the more famous antagonists. It not only penetrates the blood brain barrier but slips slyly into the transmission site inside the nerve cells themselves. It can mimic serotonin to the point where the body thinks its serotonin and consequently shoots it across the synaptic gap. When LSD reaches the other side it is accepted but the LSD doesn't carry the message any further. The impulse of electricity is redirected down less familiar pathways, pathways which have not been highly conditioned. Specifically LSD affects the oldest parts of the brain first (e.g. upper end of the spinal cord, medulla oblongata, cerebrum, pineal gland and hypothalamus region) then the bloodstream takes it forward into the immediate back brain (location of sight interpretation) up through the area of hearing, the cerebellum, other sense interpretive centers, and the motor areas.
Using radioactive molecules traced with LSD, science has been able to follow the course of LSD through the various channels and avenues of the body. It has been found found that after selecting certain areas of the various parts of the brain it then migrates to sections with fewer imprints, for instance the right of the hemisphere, the so-called creative center. By redirecting consciousness, as it were, into the unimprinted areas of the cortex, one hypothetically experiences the world anew, hence the variety of interpretations which arise upon questioning psychedelic voyagers about their "trip". Because of LSD's antagonistic effect on serotonin and the pineal gland itself, it would seem quite likely there is a chemical relationship between mental illness and deficiencies of serotonin. [31] But intravenous doses have been administered to humans with no psychedelic effects noted. [32] Melatonin itself has the same indole structure as LSD. Interesting indeed!