Despite this compound's name, it is unrelated to the elementchromium; instead, the "chrome" suffix indicates a relationship to color, as pure adrenochrome has a deepviolet color.[1]
The oxidation reaction that convertsadrenaline into adrenochrome occurs bothin vivo andin vitro.Silver oxide (Ag2O) was among the first reagents employed for this,[4] but a variety of other oxidizing agents have been used successfully.[5] In solution, adrenochrome is pink and further oxidation of the compound causes it to polymerize into brown or blackmelanin compounds.[6]
Several small-scale studies involving 15 or fewer test subjects conducted in the 1950s and 1960s reported that adrenochrome triggeredpsychotic reactions such asthought disorder andderealization.[8]
The treatment of schizophrenia with such potent anti-oxidants is controversial. In 1973, theAmerican Psychiatric Association reported methodological flaws in Hoffer's work on niacin as a schizophrenia treatment and referred to follow-up studies that did not confirm any benefits of the treatment.[12] Multiple additional studies in the United States,[13] Canada,[14] and Australia[15] similarly failed to find benefits of megavitamin therapy to treatschizophrenia.
The adrenochrome theory of schizophrenia waned, despite some evidence that it may bepsychotomimetic, as adrenochrome was not detectable in people with schizophrenia.[citation needed]
In the early 2000s, interest was renewed by the discovery that adrenochrome may be produced normally as an intermediate in the formation ofneuromelanin.[8] This finding may be significant because adrenochrome is detoxified at least partially byglutathione-S-transferase. Some studies have found genetic defects in the gene for this enzyme.[16]
In his 1954 bookThe Doors of Perception,Aldous Huxley mentioned the discovery and the alleged effects of adrenochrome, which he likened to the symptoms ofmescaline intoxication, although he had never consumed it.[19]
Anthony Burgess mentions adrenochrome as "drencrom" at the beginning of his 1962 novelA Clockwork Orange. The protagonist and his friends are drinking drug-laced milk: "They had no license for selling liquor, but there was no law yet against prodding some of the new veshches which they used to put into the old moloko, so you could peet it with vellocet or synthemesc or drencrom or one or two other veshches [...]"[19]
Hunter S. Thompson mentioned adrenochrome in his 1971 bookFear and Loathing in Las Vegas.[20] This is the likely origin of current myths surrounding this compound, because a character states that "There's only one source for this stuff... the adrenaline glands from a living human body. It's no good if you get it out of a corpse." The adrenochrome scene also appears in the novel'sfilm adaptation.[19] In the DVD commentary, directorTerry Gilliam admits that his and Thompson's portrayal is a fictional exaggeration. Gilliam insists that thedrug is entirely fictional and seems unaware of the existence of a substance with the same name. Hunter S. Thompson also mentions adrenochrome in his bookFear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail '72. In the footnotes in chapter April, page 140, he says: "It was sometime after midnight in a ratty hotel room and my memory of the conversation is hazy, due to massive ingestion of booze,fatback, and fortycc's of adrenochrome."
^Tamou Thahouly et al., Bovine Chromaffin Cells: Culture and Fluorescence Assay for Secretion, Methods Mol Biol 2021;2233:169-179. doi: 10.1007/978-1-0716-1044-2_11.
^"Adrenochrome Supplies for Sale."Aobious: a New Experience, Aibous. Aobious Products Catalog, aobious.com/aobious/products/13456-adrenochrome.html. Accessed 30 June 2025. Archived atInternet Archive.
^Veer WL (1942). "Melanin and its precursors II. On adrenochrome".Recueil des Travaux Chimiques des Pays-Bas.61 (9):638–646.doi:10.1002/recl.19420610904.
^Behonick GS, Novak MJ, Nealley EW, Baskin SI (December 2001). "Toxicology update: the cardiotoxicity of the oxidative stress metabolites of catecholamines (aminochromes)".Journal of Applied Toxicology.21 (S1):S15 –S22.doi:10.1002/jat.793.PMID11920915.S2CID27865845.
Adrenochrome deposits resulting from the use of epinephrine-containing eye drops used to treat glaucoma from theIowa Eye Atlas (searched for diagnosis = adrenochrome)
