Urinary catecholamine excretion following lysergic acid diethylamide in man

Summary

Two separate controlled experiments in man measured the excretion of epinephrine, norepinephrine, vanilmandelic acid (VMA) and total metanephrines following lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), comparisons being made with an injection of a similar dose of epinephrine in the one instance and with a no-treament period in the other. LSD (2 mcg/kg) produced insignificant changes in urinary catecholamine excretion over a four-hour period while epinephrine (3 mcg/kg) evoked substantial increases in excretion of epinephrine, VMA and metanephrines with a concomitant decrease in norepinephrine excretion. Sympathomimetic effects of these doses of LSD were apparent clinically and as judged by the degree of elevation of plasma free fatty acids (FFA); the response to epinephrine was brief and intense, while that to LSD was sustained and more gradual in onset. In the second experiment, LSD (1.5 and 2 mcg/kg) produced no more changes in catecholamine excretion over an eight-hour period than a control no-treatment trial.

Although LSD has many sympathomimetic actions, these are not adequately reflected by measurement of urinary catecholamine excretion. These experiments suggest that measurement of urinary catecholamines is a poor gauge of sustained sympathomimetic effects.