Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage derived by boiling the bark of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi Malpighiaceous Together with the leaves of various plants admixture, viz. Psychotria viridis Psychotria carthagenensis, or Diplopterys cabrerana. B. caapi contains harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine while the admixtures Contain N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT, a potent hallucinogen, is inactive due to degradation by orally visceral monoamine oxidase (MAO). The β-carbolines, however, are highly active reversible inhibitors of MAO and May Protect the DMT from deamination by MAO and render it orally active. This mechanism has-been Proposed to underlie the oral activity of ayahuasca but have not Been confirmed experimentally.
Levels of DMT and beta-carbolines found in ayahuasca samples examined in this study were an order of magnitude higher than the levels reported in a previous study. Ayahuasca found an extremely effective inhibitor of MAO in vitro and degree of inhibition was directly correlated with the concentration of MAO-inhibiting beta-carbolines. Inhibition experiments using mixtures of beta-carbolines indicated that their effects are additive in combination, instead of synergistic or antagonistic.
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage that is prominent in the ethnomedicine and shamanism of indigenous Amazonian tribes. Its unique pharmacology depends on the oral activity of the hallucinogen, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which results from inhibition of monoamine oxidase (MAO) by β-carboline alkaloids. MAO is the enzyme that normally degrades DMT in the liver and gut. Ayahuasca has long been integrated into mestizo folk medicine in the northwest Amazon. In Brazil, it is used as a sacrament by several syncretic churches. Some of these organizations have incorporated in the United States. The recreational and religious use of ayahuasca in the United States, as well as “ayahuasca tourism” in the Amazon, is increasing. The current legal status of ayahuasca or its source plants in the United States is unclear, although DMT is a Schedule I controlled substance. One ayahuasca church has received favorable rulings in 2 federal courts in response to its petition to the Department of Justice for the right to use ayahuasca under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
Levels of DMT and beta-carbolines found in ayahuasca samples examined in this study were an order of magnitude higher than the levels reported in a previous study. Ayahuasca found an extremely effective inhibitor of MAO in vitro and degree of inhibition was directly correlated with the concentration of MAO-inhibiting beta-carbolines. Inhibition experiments using mixtures of beta-carbolines indicated that their effects are additive in combination, instead of synergistic or antagonistic.
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic beverage that is prominent in the ethnomedicine and shamanism of indigenous Amazonian tribes. Its unique pharmacology depends on the oral activity of the hallucinogen, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), which results from inhibition of monoamine oxidase (MAO) by β-carboline alkaloids. MAO is the enzyme that normally degrades DMT in the liver and gut. Ayahuasca has long been integrated into mestizo folk medicine in the northwest Amazon. In Brazil, it is used as a sacrament by several syncretic churches. Some of these organizations have incorporated in the United States. The recreational and religious use of ayahuasca in the United States, as well as “ayahuasca tourism” in the Amazon, is increasing. The current legal status of ayahuasca or its source plants in the United States is unclear, although DMT is a Schedule I controlled substance. One ayahuasca church has received favorable rulings in 2 federal courts in response to its petition to the Department of Justice for the right to use ayahuasca under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.
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