Ayahuasca is an Amazonian psychoactive plant beverage containing the serotonergic 5-HT(2A) agonist N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and monoamine oxidase-inhibiting alkaloids (harmine, harmaline and tetrahydroharmine) that render it orally active. Ayahuasca ingestion is a central feature in several Brazilian syncretic churches that have expanded their activities to urban Brazil, Europe and North...
(±)3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), a widely used drug of abuse, rapidly reduces serotonin levels in the brain when ingested or administered in sufficient quantities, resulting in deficits in complex route-based learning, spatial learning, and reference memory. Neurotrophins are important for survival and preservation of neurons in the adult brain, including serotonergic neurons. In...
In schizophrenia patients, optimal treatment with antipsychotics requires weeks to months of sustained drug therapy. However, single administration of antipsychotic drugs can reverse schizophrenia-like behavioral alterations in rodent models of psychosis. This raises questions about the physiological relevance of such antipsychotic-like activity. This study evaluates the effects of chronic...
Abstract Aims It is still unclear if cognitive abnormalities in human 3,4‐methylenedioxymeth‐amphetamine ( MDMA ) users existed before the beginning of use or if other confounders could explain the deficits. The present study was conducted in order to assess the relationship between beginning MDMA use and subsequent cognitive performance and to overcome previous methodological shortcomings....
3,4‐Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) induces both acute adverse effects and long‐term neurotoxic loss of brain 5‐HT neurones in laboratory animals. However, when choosing doses, most preclinical studies have paid little attention to the pharmacokinetics of the drug in humans or animals. The recreational use of MDMA and current clinical investigations of the drug for therapeutic purposes...
Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic botanical mixture originating in the Amazon area where it is used ritually, but is now being taken globally. The 2 main constituents of ayahuasca are N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a hallucinogen, and harmine, a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) which attenuates the breakdown of DMT, which would otherwise be broken down very quickly after oral consumption. Recent...
BACKGROUND Reports from US, UK and European drug policy entities, and ongoing media accounts, show increasing recreational use of 4-methylmethcathinone (4-MMC, mephedrone) and 3,4-methylenedioxypyrovalerone (MDPV). Severe sympathomimetic symptoms, hallucinations, psychoses, and even deaths have been reported, yet little scientific information is available on the effects of these compounds in...
Altered states of consciousness induced by hallucinogens (H-ASC) is still a vaguely understood phenomenon. Taken the diverse psychological effects they exert, the main mechanism of action of hallucinogens; LSD, ibogaine, THC, PCP, MDMA, methamphetamine, mescaline, psilocybin and DMT, of which psychological effects are discussed in the article, are not properly understood and explained by the...
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive tea prepared from a combination of plants that contain a hallucinogenic tryptamine and monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs). Behavioral pattern monitor (BPM) experiments demonstrated that the combination of 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) and a behaviorally inactive dose of an MAO(A) inhibitor such as harmaline or clorgyline induces biphasic effects on...
UNLABELLED: This study assessed the effects of the serotonin (5-HT) and norepinephrine (NE) transporter inhibitor duloxetine on the effects of 3,4-methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy) in vitro and in 16 healthy subjects. The clinical study used a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled, four-session, crossover design. In vitro, duloxetine blocked the release of both 5-HT and NE...