Phencyclidine Abuse: Plasma Levels and Clinical Findings in Casual Users and in Phencyclidine-Related Deaths

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Abstract
Phencyclidine was measured in the plasma of ten casual users by gas-liquid chromatography with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector. Concentrations ranged <10–812 ng/ml. The most common physical findings were hypertension, nystogmus, combativeness-agitation, miosis, and tachycardia. Except for the systolic blood pressure, the physical findings did not correlate with the plasma concentrations. Phenycyclidine was also measured in the postmortem blood and tissues (liver, lung, kidney, brain, and bile) of five individuals whose death was phencyclidine-related. In all cases, tissue concentrations greatly exceeded those in blood, and blood levels were similar to those found in the plasma of the casual users. Phencyclidine is tightly tissue-bound, so that plasma concentrations may not adequately reflect the severity of an ingestion. For one patient the concentration of phencyclidine in knee synovial fluid (pH 6.5) was nine times higher and in the urine (pH 5.5) 79 times higher than that in the plasma, suggesting that the compound may be concentrated in biological fluids of low pH.