<i>Ayahuasca,</i> a South American psychotropic plant tea obtained from <i>Banisteriopsis caapi</i> and <i>Psychotria viridis</i>, combines monoamine oxidase-inhibiting β-carboline alkaloids with N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a psychedelic agent showing 5-HT<sub>2A</sub> agonist activity. In a clinical research setting, <i>ayahuasca</i> has demonstrated a combined stimulatory and psychedelic...
The Internet may represent a new mechanism by which adolescents initiate the use of illicit substances. The existence of multiple partisan websites providing misinformation regarding the safety of these substances may lead to an increase in unsafe behavior among this age group. Adverse outcomes related to Internet-based drug information are rarely identified. We report a case of an adolescent...
A 25-year-old man was brought to the emergency department from a late-night dance club. A friend reported that the patient commonly used designer drugs that he purchased over the Internet. While at the club, he started to vomit and experience visual hallucinations. He had no previous medical history and took no prescription medications. On searching the patient's clothing, medical staff found...
The effects of the South American psychotropic beverage ayahuasca on subjective and cardiovascular variables and urine monoamine metabolite excretion were evaluated, together with the drug's pharmacokinetic profile, in a double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trial. This pharmacologically complex tea, commonly obtained from Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, combines...
Foxy is slang for 5-methoxy-N,N-diisopropyltryptamine. It has hallucinogenic properties, similar to other tryptamine compounds, and is mildly euphoric. This case report describes a 21-year-old Caucasian man who ingested a pill called Foxy containing an unknown amount of drug. He was observed in hospital for 2 h, during which time he had mild hallucinations and could not move his limbs. A urine...
RationaleAyahuasca, a South American psychotropic plant tea, combines the psychedelic agent and 5-HT(2A/2C) agonist N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) with beta-carboline alkaloids showing monoamine oxidase-inhibiting properties. Current human research with psychedelics and entactogens has explored the possibility that drugs displaying agonist activity at the 5-HT(2A/2C) sites temporally disrupt...
The present study investigated the involvement of the serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) neuronal system in the Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-induced impairment of spatial memory in the eight-arm radial maze in rats. Delta(9)-Tetrahydrocannabinol (6 mg/kg, i.p.), which impairs spatial memory, significantly increased the 5-HT content in the ventral hippocampus. A microdialysis study showed...
The role of 5-HT2A-mediated stimulation of phosphoinositide hydrolysis in the discriminative effects of hallucinogens was investigated in PC12 cells stably expressing the rat 5-HT2A receptor (PC12-5-HT2A cells). The hallucinogenic compounds, D-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), (-)2,5-dimethoxy-4-methylamphetamine (DOM), psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine...
Ibogaine is a plant-derived alkaloid and dissociative psychedelic that demonstrates anti-addictive properties with several substances of abuse, including alcohol. 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a naturally occurring psychedelic known to occasion potent mystical-type experiences and also demonstrates anti-addictive properties. The potential therapeutic effects of both compounds...
Psilocin analogs having either a formyl group (9-12) or a bromine atom (13-18) at the 5- or 7-position have been prepared for the first time. Syntheses of 5- and 7-bromo derivatives of 4-hydroxy- (23, 24, 28) and 4-benzyloxyindole-3-carbaldehyde (19, 25, 29, 30), 4-benzyloxyindole-3-acetonitriles (20, 31), and 4-benzyloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (32, 34, 35) have also been established.