MiPLA, or lysergic acid methylisopropylamide, is a lysergamide in which the two ethyl groups of LSD’s amide are replaced by one methyl and one isopropyl group. It is an isomer of LSD and has been examined in early receptor-binding and animal drug-discrimination studies. Those experiments found LSD-like activity, although modern human research is limited.
Chemistry and naming
MiPLA is also written MIPLA or N-methyl-N-isopropyllysergamide. It retains the ergoline core and N6-methyl group of LSD, but changes the carboxamide substituents. It should not be confused with MiPT, which is an indole-based tryptamine without the lysergamide ring system.
Receptor pharmacology
A 1994 study compared MiPLA with LSD and other N-isopropyl lysergamides. In rats trained to distinguish LSD from saline, MiPLA fully substituted for LSD. Its binding affinities at the tested 5-HT1A and 5-HT2 sites were broadly similar to those of LSD, although its affinity at one 5-HT2 binding site was lower (Huang and colleagues, 1994).
An earlier NIDA research monograph also discussed the methylisopropyl amide of lysergic acid. It reported receptor-binding results close to those of LSD and full substitution in an animal drug-discrimination procedure. The same chapter noted that the corresponding electroencephalographic pattern did not simply reproduce the LSD profile, illustrating that similar receptor binding does not guarantee identical whole-animal effects (Pfaff and colleagues, Lysergamides Revisited, 1994).
Reported effects and clinical evidence
There is little modern controlled human research on MiPLA. Older pharmacological studies support LSD-like activity in animals, without establishing the details or duration of human effects, or the frequency of adverse reactions. Online descriptions should therefore be treated as anecdotal.
Research limitations
MiPLA has more preclinical evidence behind it than many little-studied lysergamides, but its human pharmacokinetics, acute toxic range, dependence potential and long-term effects remain poorly characterised. The available studies date mainly from the 1990s and were not designed to meet current clinical-trial standards.
Related lysergamides
MiPLA is related to LSD, LSZ, LAE-32 and other amide-modified lysergamides. It differs from MiPT, which belongs to the tryptamine rather than lysergamide family.
