Heaven-sent drug

Press, 27 April 1989, Page 15

Heaven-sent drug

“Angel dust,” one of the most dangerous street drugs ever created, may soon have a new role — in treating heart attack and stroke victims. Scientists are working on closely related compounds which could play an important role in preventing brain damage, a common side-effect of cardiac attacks. Known properly as phencyclidine (PCP), “angel dust” was first used in the 1950 s as an anaesthetic. However, it induced delirium in many patients and was dropped from use. It was this power to produce disturbed sensory states that later led to PCP’s adoption as an hallucinatory drug — under names such as “angel dust” and DOA (a charming acronym which stands for "dead on arrival”). The story might have ended there had it not been for work by

Professor David Lodge, of the Royal Veterinary College, London. He discovered that a chemical variant of PCP, called ketamine, which does not induce such profound symptoms, had an unusual effect on the brain. It blocked the action of a chemical known as glutamic acid. Glutamic acid is important because a huge surge of it is produced when the brain is starved of oxygen — for instance, after a heart attack or stroke — causing severe damage to brain cells. Developing chemicals that could block glutamic acid and prevent brain damage in heart attack and stroke victims has therefore been an important goal for scientists. Ketamine, or a derivative, could well prove to be such a drug, it is thought. Indeed, Lodge’s research suggests that a ketamine-related drug could even work several hours after a cardiac attack.

By

ANDI SPICER,

for the “Observer”