Tenocyclidine (TCP, thienyl cyclohexylpiperidine) is a dissociative anesthetic drug with stimulant and hallucinogenic effects. It is similar in effects to phencyclidine but is considerably more potent. Due to its similarity in effects to PCP, TCP was placed into the Schedule I list of illegal drugs in the 1970s, although it was only briefly abused in the 1970s and 1980s and is now little known. [Wikipedia] |
Categories | Neuroprotective Agents Anesthetics, Dissociative
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Synonyms | TCP
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indication
Because of its high affinity for the phencyclidine binding site on the NMDA receptor, the 3H radiolabelled form of tenocyclidine is widely used in research into NMDA receptors.
pharmacology
Tenocyclidine (TCP) has slightly different binding properties to phencyclidine (PCP), with more affinity for NMDA receptors but less affinity for sigma receptors.
mechanism of action
The primary interactions are as a non-competitive antagonist at the 3A-subunit of the NMDAR in Homo sapiens. TCP is known to bind, with relatively high affinity, to the D1 subunit of the human DAT, in addition to displaying a positive antagonistic effect at the α7-subunit of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor (nAChR). It also binds to the mu-opioid receptor, which seems to be a central part of the mechanism of action of drugs in this class. (For example, Dizocilpine [MK-801] shows little appreciable analgesic effect despite having a high specificity for the NMDA-3A and NMDA-3B subunits - this may well be mediated by the lack of related efficacy at the mu-opioid receptor, though the NMDAR certainly does play a role in transmission of pain signals).