Overview:
Phencyclidine (a contraction of the chemical name phenylcyclohexylpiperidine), abbreviated PCP, is a dissociative drug formerly used as an anesthetic agent, exhibiting hallucinogenic and neurotoxic effects. It is commonly known as "Ashy Larry" or "Angel Dust".
It was first patented in the 1950s by the Parke-Davis pharmaceutical company.
Chemically PCP is an arylcyclohexylamine derivative, and pharmacologically, it is a member of the family of dissociative anesthetics. PCP works primarily as an NMDA receptor antagonist which blocks the activity of the NMDA Receptor. Other NMDA receptor antagonists include ketamine, tiletamine, and dextromethorphan. Although the primary psychoactive effects of the drug only last hours, total elimination from the body is prolonged, typically extending over weeks.
PCP was first tested after World War I as a surgical anesthetic. Because of its adverse side-effects, it was shelved until the 1950s. It was then patented by Parke-Davis and named Sernyl (supposedly referring to serenity), but was again withdrawn from the market because of side effects. It was soon renamed Sernylan, and marketed as a veterinary anaesthetic, but again discontinued. Its side effects and long half-life in the human body made it unsuitable for medical applications.
Some PCP-like drugs have multiple targets but are also used, by virtue of their PCP-like effects, as antitremor drugs (procyclidine, biperiden, trihexphenidyl) in the symptomatic treatment of Parkinson's disease. They have side effects similar to those of PCP, the severity generally correlating with the efficacy of the drug in inhibiting NMDA receptors.
