EEG correlates of the effect of serotonergic hallucinogens in the rat

Serotonergic hallucinogens (ie. the classic psychedelics), including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline and DOB, represent a group of psychoactive substances that profoundly affect human perception, thinking, affectivity and cognitive functions. All known agents of such origin are agonists of the serotonin 5-HT2A receptors and induce large changes in the psyche due to the wide distribution of these receptors throughout the brain. The similarities between psychotic state and the state induced by these substances were noticed sixty years ago. Today, an abnormal function of serotonergic system is one of the explanations of psychotic disorders and serotonergic hallucinogens are therefore used in animal models as a model of schizophrenia. Modern neurobiological methods slowly reveal the ways in which serotonin system interacts with other neurotransmitter systems and contributes to such complex function as a human consciousness is. Although changes in the activity of the human brain in a psychotic state and the state of intoxication with psychedelics were largely theoretically unraveled, the animal experimental evidence fitting into this theoretical framework is still missing. The first part of this thesis summarizes the findings regarding phenomenology, neurobiology and...