Ariadne (drug)

Use and effects

In his 1991 book PiHKAL, Alexander Shulgin reported human tests of Ariadne at doses of up to 32mg orally, finding that it produced "the alert of a psychedelic, with none of the rest of the package". Very little published data exists about the human pharmacology of Ariadne apart from Shulgin's limited testing; unpublished human trials reportedly observed some psychoactive effects, but no hallucinations. Ariadne is one of Shulgin's "ten classic ladies", a series of methylated DOM derivatives.

In his 2011 book The Shulgin Index, Volume One: Psychedelic Phenethylamines and Related Compounds, Shulgin described (R)-Ariadne as increasing mental alertness and producing feelings of well-being at doses of 25 to 50mg orally. It was claimed to improve symptoms of manic depression in psychotic individuals at doses of 50 to 100mg orally and to improve symptoms of Parkinson's disease at a dosage of 100mg/day orally. Doses of up to 300mg resulted in an altered state of consciousness but still no psychedelic effects. For comparison, DOM shows psychoactive sub-hallucinogenic effects at doses of 1 to 3mg orally and psychedelic effects at doses of more than 3mg orally.

The effects of Ariadne have been said to have a duration of 2 to 5hours.

Overdose

Ariadne, as the (R)- enantiomer, is active at doses as low as 25mg and was tested in clinical trials at doses of 50 to 100mg. Doses as high as 300mg have been assessed, more than 10times higher than the minimum reported active dose. No psychedelic effects occurred at this or lower doses, but therapeutic effects were observed.

Interactions

Pharmacology

Pharmacodynamics

Ariadne is a potent and selective agonist of the serotonin 5-HT2 receptors, including of the serotonin 5-HT2A, 5-HT2B, and 5-HT2C receptors. However, it is less efficacious in activating the serotonin 5-HT2A receptor, including the Gq, G11, and β-arrestin2 signaling pathways, compared to the related drug DOM, and this weaker partial agonism may be responsible for its lack of psychedelic effects. In addition to the serotonin 5-HT2 receptors, Ariadne is a lower-affinity agonist of the serotonin 5-HT1 receptors. Ariadne shows essentially no activity at the monoamine transporters.

Ariadne shows a markedly attenuated head-twitch response, a behavioral proxy of psychedelic effects, in animals, although it does still significantly induce a weak head-twitch response. The drug substitutes for DOM in rodent drug discrimination tests, albeit with dramatically lower potency than DOx drugs like DOM itself, DOET, and DOB. It has also been shown to produce stimulus generalization in rats trained to respond to LSD and MDMA. Ariadne's capacity to fully substitute for MDMA is not shared with DOM and is unusual among psychedelics, but is shared with α-ethyltryptamine (αET). In monkeys, Ariadne was found to possibly increase motivation, as it caused monkeys that had stopped running mazes to begin running them again. Ariadne has also been found to be effective in an animal model of Parkinson's disease, where it reversed motor deficits similarly to levodopa.

Serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonists have been found to increase dopamine levels in the nucleus accumbens and other mesolimbic areas. Non-hallucinogenic serotonin 5-HT2A receptor agonists like Ariadne may produce this effect without causing psychedelic effects. This action may underlie the preliminary observations of effectiveness of Ariadne in the treatment of parkinsonism in animals and humans.

Chemistry

Ariadne, also known as 4-methyl-2,5-dimethoxy-α-ethylphenethylamine, is a substituted phenethylamine and amphetamine derivative. It is the analogue of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (DOM) in which the α-methyl group has been replaced with an α-ethyl group and is the analogue of 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylphenethylamine (2C-D) with an ethyl group substituted at the α carbon.

Synthesis

The chemical synthesis of Ariadne has been described.

Analogues

Other related compounds include the 4C derivatives 4C-B (homologue of 2C-B and DOB), 4C-I (homologue of 2C-I and DOI), 4C-P (homologue of 2C-P and DOPR), 4C-T-2 (homologue of 2C-T-2 and Aleph-2), and 4C-TFM (homologue of 2C-TFM and DOTFM), among others. Unlike Ariadne, 4C-B has been reported to produce pronounced psychedelic effects, although generally milder than those of 2C-B or DOB. A higher homologue of Ariadne is 5C-D.

History

Ariadne was first synthesized by Alexander Shulgin in 1968 and he discovered its psychoactive effects in 1969. Shulgin reported that the drug was tested by Bristol Laboratories as an antidepressant, in an anecdote where he was explaining how human testing is invaluable (compared to animal testing) on drugs that change the state of the mind. He said, "Before they launched into a full multi-clinic study to determine whether it's going to be worth the animal studies or not, every person on the board of directors took it." In The Shulgin Index, Volume One: Psychedelic Phenethylamines and Related Compounds (2011), he described it also being evaluated for increasing mental alertness in geriatric individuals, treating Parkinson's disease, and treating psychosis and manic depression. The tentative commercial name of Ariadne was Dimoxamine. (R)-Ariadne was said to have completed phase 2 clinical trials and to have reached phase 3 trials, but the actual clinical data were never disclosed and further development was halted due to strategic economic reasons. However, according to journalist Hamilton Morris, the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) may have had involvement in the discontinuation of Ariadne's development.

Society and culture

Names

Ariadne's alternative name 4C-DOM or 4C-D stands for "four-carbon DOM", whereas the name of 2C-D stands for "two-carbon DOM". Another name of Ariadne is α-Et-2C-D, which stands for α-ethyl-2C-D. Racemic Ariadne is additionally known by the former developmental code name BL-3912, while the (R)-enantiomer of Ariadne (R)-Ariadne, is known by the former developmental code name BL-3912A.

Legal status

Canada

Ariadne may be a controlled substance in Canada under phenethylamine blanket-ban language.

United States

Ariadne is not an explicitly controlled substance in the United States as of 2011. However, as a positional isomer of DOET, it can be considered and is listed as a Schedule I controlled substance in this country similarly.

References

References

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