Handling of psilocybin and psilocin by everted sacs of rat jejunum and colon.

Psilocybin and psilocin at luminal concentrations of about 20 nmol/ml were incubated aerobically with everted sacs from rat jejunum and colon. When incubation was terminated, samples of the lumen and blood side solutions and of the intestinal tissue were analyzed for parent drug and metabolites by HPLC using a multidetector system. Both sacs caused hydrolysis of psilocybin to psilocin, but the rate was much faster in the jejunum than in the colon. Tissue uptake of intact psilocybin was negligible or absent, and no transfer to the contraside of the parent drug could be demonstrated. In contrast, psilocin, whether formed by hydrolysis or added as a substrate, was well taken up by both intestinal segments and transferred to the blood side. In the colonic psilocybin experiments, this uptake and transfer was limited by a low hydrolytic rate. The results indicate that psilocybin under in vivo conditions is absorbed predominantly as psilocin. No further metabolism of either drug was observed, as opposed to the complex metabolism pattern that has been reported for serotonin, a close chemical relative to psilocin.