Lysergic acids pharmacological action

In 1954, i.e. about 2 years after the discovery of chlorpromazine in Europe, two American biochemists (Woolley and Shaw) published the hypothesis that schizophrenia and similar psychoses could be based on a disturbance of serotoninergic neurotransmission in the brain. This hypothesis was supported by some facts that had become known shortly beforehand the spectacular psychotropic actions of LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide), which can trigger disturbances in perception, thought and feelings as well as hallucinations in healthy subjects (Stoll, 1947) and the serotonin-antagonistic effects of LSD, i.e. its ability to block the actions of serotonin in various pharmacological tests. 

When the multivalent pharmacological actions of lysergic acid derivatives are taken into account, it is not surprising that many... 

All ergot alkaloids which have so far been used therapeutically are lysergic acid derivatives. Representatives of the second main group, the clavine alkaloids, have also been found to be pharmacodynamically active, but as yet, none has been found to exert effects that can be utilized in therapy. The uterotonic and sympatholytic actions are less prominent in their pharmacological spectra of activity but, for example, elymoclavine and agroclavine have a pronounced central excitatory action which is attributed to their stimulation of sympathetic centers (172). 

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