Background: Observational studies with ritual ayahuasca users suggest that experienced users tend to have better cognitive performance, while novice users may experience transient impairments, particularly in working memory. However, no randomized clinical trials have systematically evaluated the cognitive effects of ayahuasca in healthy volunteers. Procedures: This double-blind, randomized,...
The medical use of cannabis-derived products in children and adolescents has expanded beyond established indications for purified cannabidiol (CBD), with increasing investigation of CBD-rich extracts containing Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) for neuropsychiatric conditions. Although preliminary studies suggest potential symptomatic benefits, the evidence remains limited by small samples,...
Background: Classic psychedelics, including LSD, psilocybin, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)/ ayahuasca, have shown promise as rapid-acting treatments for psychiatric disorders. Because sleep plays a central role in emotional regulation and neuroplasticity, psychedelic-induced changes in sleep architecture are of interest.Methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA guidelines....
Background: Depressive and anxiety symptoms are highly prevalent among patients with cancer and are associated with substantial reductions in quality of life. However, effective therapeutic options remain limited. Ayahuasca, a serotonergic psychedelic traditionally used in Amazonian ritual contexts, has shown rapid antidepressant and anxiolytic effects following a single administration in...
Ibogaine has attracted increasing attention as a potential treatment for substance use disorders; however, its clinical application remains limited by well-documented cardiotoxicity, and its safety during early development is poorly understood. Here, we investigated the developmental cardiotoxic and neurobehavioral effects of ibogaine using zebrafish embryos and larvae as a translational model....
Objective: Current treatments for schizophrenia (SZ) are often not effective for all symptoms, with sex-dependent effects poorly understood. Cannabidiol (CBD) and sodium nitroprusside (SNP) have emerged as potential prophylactic options. We evaluated their efficacy in preventing positive, negative, and cognitive deficits in a ketamine (KET) rodent model of SZ in both sexes. Methods: Wistar rats...
Abstract Dispositional mindfulness, also known as trait mindfulness, refers to an individual dispositional tendency to attend the present moment experiences with openness, curiosity and awareness. It is often associated with well-being, particularly through its role with emotional regulation. Yet, it is not well understood how it may influence the expression of major depression symptoms. This...
The impact of classic psychedelics (5-HT2A receptor agonists) on personality traits has been studied for decades, and it has been hypothesized that the mechanisms underlying these changes are linked to agonism at cortical serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors. However, research results are contradictory. Therefore, the present paper aims to systematically evaluate the effects of psychedelics on...
Ayahuasca, a traditional Amazonian psychoactive brew, has gained increasing attention for its potential health benefits; however, no previous research has investigated its use in Portugal. This study aims to evaluate the health status, lifestyle behaviors, and psychosocial well-being of Portuguese ayahuasca users, comparing their self-reported health indicators with population norms. A...
Ayahuasca has aroused increasing interest due to its therapeutic effects. However, its effects on cognition are poorly understood. Hence, a systematic review evaluating the cognitive effects of ayahuasca was conducted. This systematic review was conducted in accordance to Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. A comprehensive search was performed in...
The increasing interest in the therapeutic potential of psychedelics and cannabis underscores the need to understand their long-term neuropsychological and personality effects. This cross-sectional study compared regular users of ayahuasca (n = 69), cannabis (n = 56), and non-substance users (n = 94) on a battery of neuropsychological tasks and psychological questionnaires. Participants were...
Rodent studies have shown that psychedelic drugs can enhance fear extinction. However, investigations to date have relied on normative aversive conditioning procedures, which limit their relevance to trauma-related memories, as these tend to be overgeneralized and resistant to extinction. Fear extinction depends on activity and plasticity within the infralimbic (IL) region of the medial...
INTRODUCTION: Ibogaine is a natural hallucinogen with emerging evidence for treating substance use disorders. However, its cardiovascular effects are not fully known, and most clinical data focus on opioid dependence, with limited data for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). This study assessed the feasibility, safety, and preliminary effects of ibogaine in patients with AUD. METHOD: In this...
Psychedelics are mind-altering substances that have shown promising effects in the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders owing to their antidepressant, anxiolytic and antiaddictive effects. However, data on their developmental toxicity is scarce, which might hinder its therapeutic suitability, and preclinical data on their behavioral effects is mainly restricted to rodents. In this context,...
PLoS OneOctober 13, 2025Francisco González-espejito, Laura Esteban Rodríguez, Eduardo J. Pedrero Pérez et al.
Ibogaine, an indole alkaloid derived from the root bark of Tabernanthe iboga, has long been used in traditional Bwiti healing rituals and shows promise for treating opioid dependence and neurological conditions, but existing psychometric tools fail to capture its distinctive subjective/oneiric (dream-like) effects. To address this gap, we developed the 70-item Ibogaine Experience Scale (IES)...
Similar to what happens with other psychedelics, there is an ongoing debate on subjective experience contribution to overall therapeutic mechanisms, which can depend on the targeted conditions. There are very few evidences from controlled studies, limiting the conclusions on safety and efficacy. On top of that, ayahuasca highly variable composition posits another challenge, and studies using...
Abstract Background and aims Research on classical psychedelics like ayahuasca is increasingly focused on treating mental disorders and enhancing well-being. Ayahuasca has shown promise in improving cognitive flexibility, emotion regulation, and sleep, though findings are mixed and further research is needed. This study tracked participants over three months, assessing cognitive flexibility,...
Pain is a protective mechanism that can be classified into acute and chronic types. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew rich in dimethyltryptamine or DMT (a 5-HT2A receptor agonist), and harmine (a monoamine-oxidase (MAO) inhibitor) used for religious and therapeutic purposes. Previous preclinical and anecdotal evidence suggests that ayahuasca and its compounds have antinociceptive and...
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic substance currently being investigated for the treatment of mood, anxiety, and trauma-related disorders. Evidence from animal and human studies suggest that the effects of ayahuasca involve modulation of neural substrates relevant for emotional processing, especially in regions rich in serotonergic receptors. Moreover, preclinical studies also show that ayahuasca...
About one-third of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients demonstrate unresponsiveness to classic antidepressants, and even the clinical efficacy of fast-acting drugs such as ketamine varies significantly among patients with treatment-resistant depression. Nevertheless, the lack of suitable animal models that mimic a possible ketamine-resistant phenotype challenges the understanding of...
The "wine of jurema", used in ancient Brazilian shamanic rituals, is rich in N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally occurring tryptamine like serotonin and melatonin. Widely found in plants and animals, DMT is the main component of some botanical tisanes used for centuries as a channel of communication with the otherworld (1, 2). Despite being classified as a "classical psychedelic” (2-4),...
This systematic review aims to elucidate the nexus between ketamine's psychoactive properties and its efficacy in treating a broad spectrum of psychiatric disorders. We searched three databases and used citation tracking to include 29 studies. Predominantly, mood disorders, including bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) (MDD + BD: + n = 25 studies), a large part of them...
Ayahuasca (AYA) is a botanical psychedelic with promising results in observational and small clinical trials for depression, trauma and drug use disorders. Its psychoactive effects primarily stem from N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). However, there is a lack of research on how and where AYA acts in the brain. This study addressed these questions by examining the extinction of aversive memories in...
As the research field with psychedelic substances grows, it is expected to encompass a more extensive cohort of individuals presenting a spectrum of medical conditions, comorbidities, and unique physiological traits, thereby increasing the likelihood of potential adverse events. Furthermore, it is worth noting that there is a scarcity of the specialized literature regarding procedures to ensure...
Alcohol is the recreational drug most frequently consumed, and its high frequency of use can lead to worsening social, psychological, and domestic issues. The age group most susceptible to alcohol dependence is 18- to 24-year-old youths, demanding interventional tools to target early involvement risks. Ayahuasca seems to be a promising therapeutic tool since evidence suggests it presents...