Tenocyclidine (TCP) is a

dissociative Dissociatives, colloquially dissos, are a subclass of hallucinogens which distort perception of sight and sound and produce feelings of detachment – dissociation – from the environment and/or self. Although many kinds of drugs are capable of ...

anesthetic An anesthetic (American English) or anaesthetic (British English; see spelling differences) is a drug used to induce anesthesia ⁠— ⁠in other words, to result in a temporary loss of sensation or awareness. They may be divided into two ...

with

psychostimulant Stimulants (also often referred to as psychostimulants or colloquially as uppers) is an overarching term that covers many drugs including those that increase activity of the central nervous system and the body, drugs that are pleasurable and inv ...

effects. It was discovered by a team at

Parke-Davis Parke-Davis is a subsidiary of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Although Parke, Davis & Co. is no longer an independent corporation, it was once America's oldest and largest drug maker, and played an important role in medical history. In 19 ...

in the late 1950s. Heterocyclic compounds and methods for producing the same It is similar in effects to

phencyclidine Phencyclidine or phenylcyclohexyl piperidine (PCP), also known as angel dust among other names, is a dissociative anesthetic mainly used recreationally for its significant mind-altering effects. PCP may cause hallucinations, distorted percept ...

(PCP) but is considerably more potent. TCP has slightly different binding properties to PCP, with more affinity for the

NMDA receptor The ''N''-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (also known as the NMDA receptor or NMDAR), is a glutamate receptor and ion channel found in neurons. The NMDA receptor is one of three types of ionotropic glutamate receptors, the other two being AMPA and ...

s, but less affinity for the

sigma receptor Sigma receptors (σ-receptors) are protein cell surface receptors that bind ligands such as 4-PPBP (4-phenyl-1-(4-phenylbutyl) piperidine), SA 4503 (cutamesine), ditolylguanidine, dimethyltryptamine, and siramesine. There are two subtypes, ...

s. Because of its high affinity for the PCP site of the NMDA receptor complex, the ³H radiolabelled form of TCP is widely used in research into NMDA receptors. TCP acts primarily as an

NMDA receptor antagonist NMDA receptor antagonists are a class of drugs that work to antagonize, or inhibit the action of, the ''N''-Methyl-D-aspartate receptor ( NMDAR). They are commonly used as anesthetics for animals and humans; the state of anesthesia they induce ...

which blocks the activity of the NMDA receptor, however its increased psychostimulant effects compared to PCP suggests it also has relatively greater activity as a

dopamine reuptake inhibitor A dopamine reuptake inhibitor (DRI) is a class of drug which acts as a reuptake inhibitor of the monoamine neurotransmitter dopamine by blocking the action of the dopamine transporter (DAT). Reuptake inhibition is achieved when extracellular ...

(DRI). Due to its similarity in effects to PCP, TCP was placed into the Schedule I list of illegal drugs in the 1970s, although it was only briefly used in the 1970s and 1980s and is now little known.

References

Anesthetics Arylcyclohexylamines Dissociative drugs Piperidines Thiophenes Designer drugs Dopamine reuptake inhibitors NMDA receptor antagonists Sigma agonists {{nervous-system-drug-stub

See also

References