Ever wonder why your Acid trip lasts so long?
The brain holds an Acid trip tight.
“I wonder if I’ll ever stop tripping,”- most people who have tripped on Acid. As fun as it is, when you’ve been tripping for 16 hours you do start to wonder if you’ll ever be normal again. But we all know that time comes when the trip has worn out and you’re left with that Acid-glow.
Well, Science has figured out why exactly a trip lasts so long and it’s because brain cells hold onto them so tightly they cannot escape- adorable!
Scientists in the US discovered the LSD molecule wedges itself into a serotonin receptor at an unexpected angle, and then the receptor folds over the LSD molecule like a lid, embracing each other as they catapult you into the trip (literally) of a lifetime.
The molecule is stuck in the receptor until the body starts to react to this unusual stimulus by sucking the receptor into the cell, where it and the LSD are disassembled for recycling.
Put a lid on it!
Professor Bryan Roth, a pharmacologist and researcher on the project said:
“Once LSD gets in the receptor, a lid comes over the LSD, so it’s basically trapped in the receptor and can’t get out,” Professor Roth said.
“LSD takes a really long time to get on the receptor, and then once it gets on, it doesn’t get off.”
LSD exposed to cells with mutant serotonin receptors that had “floppier lids” bound to the cell more quickly but also stopped the process quicker.
He goes on to say, “It is potentially very dangerous. But it could have potential medicinal uses, some of which were reported in the medical literature decades ago,” he said.
“Now that we’ve solved the structure of LSD bound to a receptor, we are learning what makes it so potent.”
The Professor stressed they don’t advocate an Acid Trip, but for those interested in its chemistry, read the full study here.