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Approved For Release 2003/0aKe ; -RDP96-00788R001300020001-6 I | ST-CS-01-169-72 July 1972 SECTION IV -— CURRENT RESEARCH INTEREST IN PSYCHOPHARMACOLOGY - USSR PART A —- Bioamine Research’ 1. (U) Space in this report limits this discussion on bioamine research. There is a vast quantity of literature available on bio- amine research, e.g., serotonin, dopamine, adrenalin, and noradrenalin. 2. (C/CD/NDA) Discarding some elements of sensationalism, acade- mician P.K. Anokhin (relationship to I.P. Anokina unknown; see reference 205) maintains that today's knowledge of the human brain gives grounds to believe that in the next decade some artificial means will be found to influence the intellectual capacities of man (207). Doctor Anokhin is with the Institute of Normal and Pathological Physiology in Moscow (208). 3. (U) A small group of little-known amines, commonly referred to as the biogenic amines, seemed to provide links between behavior and such fields of brain research as neuroanatomy, neurochemistry, and neurophysiology. It seemed possible that advances in the neurochemistry of these amines would greatly enrich one's knowledge - of a variety of processes related to brain and mind. This has indéed happened, Although the surface has still barely been scratched, research in the interim has broadened the ideas con- cerning such phenomena as mood, sleep, sexual desires, and appetite -~ and such neurological disorders as parkinsonism and chorea. More- over, the whole field of psychopharmaco logy has become rationalized as relationships between the major psychoactive drugs and amine action have been revealed. 4. (U) It has now been established beyond reasonable doubt that communication between neurons in the mammalian nervous system is. by means of chemical agents, or neurotransmitters, which are released from the nerve terminal of one neuron and which cross the synaptic cleft, or intermneuronal space, to influence the excitability of the next neuron. The altemative possibility of electrical trans- mission has been ruled out. The existence of these chemical messengers provides a possible way of influencing behavior and mental performance while leaving other aspects of brain function almost completely unaffected. If the transmitters governing the cells associated with such functions as sex, appetite, sleep, or mood turn out to be specific and if chemical methods can be found for selectively interfering with their metabolism, then fairly 71 CONTROLLED DISSEMINATION NO DISSEMINATION ABROAD FIDENTIAL Approved For Release 2003/09/10 : CIA-RDP96-00788R001300020001-6