Sleep paralysis is a state of involuntary immobility occurring at sleep onset or offset, often accompanied by uncanny “ghost-like” hallucinations and extreme fear reactions. I provide here a neuropharmacological account for these hallucinatory experiences by evoking the role of the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR). Research has shown that 5-HT2AR activation can induce visual hallucinations,...
K anesthesia was introduced about half a century ago. In recent decades, this drug, in subanesthetic doses, has also demonstrated efficacy for off-label indications including treating acute and chronic pain, treating agitation, treating depression, and inducing sedation. Thus, there are studies of subanesthetic dosing with ketamine for treating pain in emergency medicine settings, treating...
The West African iboga plant has been used for centuries by the Bwiti and Mbiri tribes to induce hallucinations during religious ceremonies. Ibogaine, the principal alkaloid responsible for iboga's psychedelic properties, was isolated and sold as an antidepressant in France for decades before its adverse effects precipitated its removal from the market. An ibogaine resurgence in the 1960s was...
tial impact of psychedelic drugs on psychiatry to that of the microscope on biology and, while this analogy may strike some as laughable, let us reflect for a moment that human research with psychedelics has been effectively moribund since the restrictive drug policy reforms of the 1960s-70s, and has only recently been revived. Classic serotonergic psychedelics – such as LSD, psilocybin and...
Abstract Entomopathogenic fungi routinely kill their hosts before releasing infectious spores, but select species keep insects alive while sporulating, which enhances dispersal. Transcriptomics and metabolomics studies of entomopathogens with post-mortem dissemination from their parasitized hosts have unraveled infection processes and host responses, yet mechanisms underlying active spore...
Though relatively obscure, N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is an important molecule in psychopharmacology as it is the archetype for all indole-containing serotonergic psychedelics. Its structure can be found embedded within those of better-known molecules such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin. Unlike the latter two compounds, DMT is ubiquitous, being produced by a wide variety...
Background: Recent evidence suggests that psychedelic use predicts reduced perpetration of intimate partner violence among men involved in the criminal justice system. However, the extent to which this association generalizes to community samples has not been examined, and potential mechanisms underlying this association have not been directly explored. Aims: The present study examined the...
Heterologous expression of multi-gene biosynthetic pathways in eukaryotic hosts is limited by highly regulated individual monocistrons. Dissimilar to prokaryotes, each eukaryotic gene is strictly controlled by its own regulatory elements, such as promoter and terminator. Consequently, parallel transcription can occur only when a group of genes is synchronously activated. A strategy to...
With an extreme range of terms for psychedelic drugsfrom "schizotoxic" to "entheogenic" -"psychedelic," nonetheless remains the most salient one.These substances manifest or disclose aspects of the mind of those who take them as well as the mind of those who study them.Proponents for the innumerable terms for these drugs are all able to adduce supportive evidence.Necessarily, this evidence is a...
BACKGROUND: The ceremonial use of psychoactive/hallucinogenic plant based drugs, such as ayahuasca, psilocybin and others, is a growing trend in the United States (US) and globally. To date, there has been little research documenting how many people are using psychoactive substances in this context, who the users are, what benefits/risks exist in the use of these drugs and the relationship...