Psilocybe wrightii (Strophariaceae, Agaricales), a subtropical and hallucinogenic species known only from southern Brazil and northern Argentina, is confirmed to contain psilocybin and psilocin. Detailed description of southern Brazilian specimens, chemical analysis using gas chromatography of the basidiomes, and discussion of its taxonomy are presented.
Quick: Name the person who started the psychedelic movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Most people old enough to understand the question or who read Tom Wolfe's The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test would probably name Ken Kesey, Wavy Gravy, or perhaps Timothy Leary. But the surprising answer is that the concept of deliberately ingesting plants or chemicals to induce hallucinations was introduced into...
Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) is a novel ionization technique that provides for the rapid ionization of small molecules under ambient conditions. To investigate the trend of non-controlled psychotropic plants of abuse in Japan, a rapid screening method, without sample preparation, was developed using DART-time of flight mass spectrometer (TOFMS) for plant products. The major psychotropic...
This paper attempts to determine a method for making use of the “image of deviation,” which we fieldworkers possess and typically regard as a bias contaminating our research, as a resource for interpretation, and by doing so open the door to the field of “deviation.” Among qualitative studies of educational sociology, only a handful have focused on the self (involvement, attitude, etc.)...
Consumption of natural hallucinogenic substances continues to be a problem. In this case we report from a young male patient presenting with an acute coronary syndrome with significant ST-elevation after the abuse of psychoactive fungi, commonly referred to as "magic mushrooms". Coronary angiography excludes relevant coronary artery disease. In ventriculography contractile dysfunction with...
Disruptions in social decision-making are becoming evident in many psychiatric conditions. These are studied using paradigms investigating the psychological mechanisms underlying interpersonal interactions, such as the Ultimatum Game (UG). Rejection behaviour in the UG represents altruistic punishment - the costly punishment of norm violators - but the mechanisms underlying it require...
Indole alkaloids of Psilocybe cubensis have been reported to be the potential candidates for drug discovery in central nervous system (CNS) disorders. In this research, the effect of the harvesting light on increasing the active alkaloids of P. cubensis was investigated. Three different lighting conditions, that is, dim daylight, indirect daylight, and darkness were used to harvest the...
Randomized clinical trials support the efficacy of MDMA in the treatment of PTSD and psilocybin in the treatment of depression and cancer-related anxiety. The research to support the use of LSD and ayahuasca in the treatment of psychiatric disorders is preliminary, although promising. Overall, the database is insufficient for FDA approval of any psychedelic compound for routine clinical use in...
We used the MembStruk computational procedure to predict the three-dimensional (3D) structure for the serotonin 5-HT(2C) G-protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Using this structure, we used the MSCDock computational procedure to predict the 3D structures for bound ligand-protein complexes for agonists such as serotonin and antagonists such as ritanserin, metergoline, and methiothepin. In addition,...
RATIONALE: Many studies have reported deficits of mismatch negativity (MMN) in schizophrenic patients. Pharmacological challenges with hallucinogens in healthy humans are used as models for psychotic states. Previous studies reported a significant reduction of MMN after ketamine (N-methyl-D-aspartate acid [NMDA] antagonist model) but not after psilocybin (5HT2A agonist model). OBJECTIVES: The...