) that has a unique therapeutic potential across multiple indications, including opioid dependence, substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injury (TBI). We systematically examined the effects of ibogaine, its main metabolite noribogaine, and a series of iboga analogs at monoamine neurotransmitter transporters, some of which have...
Research SquareDecember 18, 2025Alejo Acuña, Federico Billeri, Valentino Totaro et al.
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Abstract Background: Psychedelics have emerged as powerful modulators of neural plasticity, yet whether the atypical psychedelic ibogaine can enhance plasticity remains poorly understood. Here, we investigated whether a single administration of ibogaine can reinstate juvenile-like experience-dependent plasticity in the adult mouse visual cortex, a canonical model for studying neuroplasticity....
Abstract Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can result in chronic functional disability and is associated with persistent psychiatric symptoms, including posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and anxiety. Ibogaine, an oneirogenic alkaloid with unique pharmacological properties, has shown initial promise as a potential treatment for TBI-related sequelae. We previously observed large...
Emerging psychedelic therapeutics increasingly rely on mechanistic precision, receptor selectivity, and pharmacokinetic control. Recent inventions introduce simplified iboga analogs with tunable polypharmacology, real-time EEG biomarkers that individualize psilocybin dosing, and standardized harmine-DMT ratios with high bioavailability. Together, these innovations form a coherent framework for...
This article proposes that ibogaine’s induction of GDNF, modulation of glutamate and dopamine signaling, and reopening of plasticity represent a unified mechanism capable of restoring reward system fidelity across disorders. This includes addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and eating disorders, amongst others. These conditions are labelled as...
Ibogaine is an atypical psychedelic that evokes unique subjective effects, including mystical experiences. Mystical experiences have shown a mediating effect on clinical improvements following treatment with several psychedelic substances; however, the relationship between mystical experiences and clinical outcomes following ibogaine remains unclear. We examined the association between mystical...
This study evaluated the effects of ibogalogs on recognition and spatial memory in rodents, focusing on potential hippocampal mechanisms. The Barnes maze study demonstrated that ibogaminalog (DM506) and ibogainalog (IBG) improved short- (30 min) and long-term (24 and 72 h) spatial memory in mice, whereas tabernanthalog (TBG) showed less efficacy. The novel object recognition task (NORT) results...
Abstract Drawing on an unprecedentedly larger sample (N = 236) than previous studies, we investigated the subjective effects of ibogaine by asking a series of three original, open-ended questions to participants enrolled in an ibogaine-assisted treatment program at a specialized healthcare facility in México. The objective was to characterize the overall phenomenology of the subjective ibogaine...
HealthcareOctober 23, 2025Eve E. Keighley, Eid Abo Hamza, Dalia A Bedewy et al.1 citation
Objectives: This study investigates psychedelic drugs to treat substance use disorder (SUD). Researchers have recently begun conducting clinical trials of psychedelic treatment for SUD. The current meta-analysis investigates the extent of efficacy in alleviating SM behaviours (P) using psychedelic therapy (I), concurrent with determining which psychedelic enables the greatest effect (C) as a...
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)...
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)...
NeuroscienceOctober 5, 2025Jannik Nicklas Eliasen, Amir Rezagholizadeh, Helene Påbøl Jacobsen et al.1 citation
Depression and substance use disorder affect millions world-wide, and risk factors include sex. Conventional pharmacotherapies show at best a 50 % success rate. Psychedelics exhibit both anti-addictive and anti-depressive properties. One of these, ibogaine, a root bark sourced alkaloid, interacts with receptors implicated in anti-depressive and anti-addictive effects with affinities in the...
Tropane alkaloids and their derivatives represent a diverse class of small molecules with a broad range of therapeutic applications. Many tropanes regulate synaptic levels of neuromodulators by interacting with monoamine transporters such as dopamine (DAT) and serotonin (SERT) transporters. While DAT inhibition plays an important role in the addictive potential of tropanes such as cocaine,...
Severe mental illness (SMI) and co-occurring substance use disorders (SUDs) continue to pose a major global health challenge, contributing to high rates of mortality, disability, and economic strain. Ibogaine, a naturally occurring psychoactive compound derived from the Tabernanthe iboga plant, has shown promise in easing withdrawal symptoms, reducing cravings, and improving psychiatric...
Noribogaine (Noribo) is the primary metabolite from ibogaine, an atypical psychedelic. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of Noribo on thalamic physiology of calcium channels voltage activation and gene expression and the potential involvement of the 5-HT2A receptor on those effects. Thus, we used male and female, 5-HT2AR knockout (KO) and wild type (WT) mice, injected...
Abstract The controlled substance “ibogaine” is reported to have unique addiction-interrupting properties. Due to its illegal status, the drug's application for treating substance dependency has been explored by a network of addicts and harm reduction activists in underground and off-shore clinics. The article investigates the strategies that practitioners have adopted to mitigate harm from...
Ibogaine, derived from the Iboga (Tabernanthe iboga), a shrub of central Africa, has a history of medical and entheogenic ritual use. Its modern use followed the serendipitous discovery, among heroin users in 1962, that it interrupted heroin addiction. Efforts to engage the scientific community in the clinical science of ibogaine had limited success but led to an underground treatment movement...
This chapter details the therapy protocols involving ibogaine utilized at The Mission Within (https://missionwithin.org) in Baja California, Mexico, as described by its founder and research director, Dr. Martin Polanco, along with psychedelic preparation/integration counselor and therapeutic facilitator, Dr. Mia Black. The chapter describes: Their personal development as ibogaine therapists and...
Opioid-related overdose deaths have reached record high levels, and novel treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) are needed. The three United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications for OUD function primarily at the mu-opioid receptor. While these remain the gold-standard treatment for OUD, they have shortcomings and treatment options separate from the opioid receptor...