China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Ayahuasca
Published in Mahendra Rai, Shandesh Bhattarai, Chistiane M. Feitosa, Wild Plants, 2020
Raquel Consul, Flávia Lucas, Maria Graça Campos
Psychotria viridis is a plant of the Rubiaceae family, commonly known as “chacrona” or “rainha” (Figure 16.2). It is a non-endemic native shrub of the Amazon and Atlantic Forest, characteristic of clayey and sandy soils, with abundant water (Taylor et al. 2015). It has dark green leaves, flexible, with a circular petiole in the proximal part and flat-convex in the distal part, with lateral projections. The limbus is lanceolate, narrow at the base, and acute at the apex (Quinteiro et al. 2006).
Plant Species from the Atlantic Forest Biome and Their Bioactive Constituents
Published in Luzia Valentina Modolo, Mary Ann Foglio, Brazilian Medicinal Plants, 2019
Rebeca Previate Medina, Carolina Rabal Biasetto, Lidiane Gaspareto Felippe, Lilian Cherubin Correia, Marília Valli, Afif Felix Monteiro, Alberto José Cavalheiro, Ângela Regina Araújo, Ian Castro-Gamboa, Maysa Furlan, Vanderlan da Silva Bolzani, Dulce Helena Siqueira Silva
Additional sources of hallucinogenic snuffs have been associated with the Myristicaceae family, especially from the genus Virola. Although myristicaceous seeds, especially from Virola and Iryanthera species have been extensively investigated by South American researchers, their chemical profiles are mostly associated with lignans, neolignans and other shikimic acid-derived biosynthetic pathways. These natural products failed to support the hallucinogenic properties of Virola species used in snuff preparation. Indian tribes of the northwest Amazon Basin as “Puinaves” and “Waiká” were reported to use the blood-red bark resin of Virola calophylla, V. calophylloidea and V. theiodora in the preparation of snuffs known as “yakee”, “epena” and “nyakwana”, where tryptamines are present in high concentrations, with 5-methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (19) (Figure 9.3) as the major constituent. Hallucinogenic preparations still in current use in religious rituals in Brazil as “ayhuasca” include plants containing tryptamines as Psychotria viridis and Banisteria caapi (Barker et al., 2012; Schultes, 1969).
Introduction
Published in James Alan Duke, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez, Amazonian Ethnobotanical Dictionary, 2018
James Alan Duke, Rodolfo Vasquez Martinez
Chances are good that the Psychotria, like Psychotria viridis, contains N,N,dimethyltryptamine, which is not active when ingested, unless taken with monoamine-oxidase-inhibitors like the harmaline, harmine, and tetrahydroharmine in “ayahuasca”. Add scopoletin from Brunfelsia and atropine and scopolamine from Brugmansia and you have a pot-pourri of hallucinogenic (but dangerous) synergy. As Antonio warns, there are bad “ayahuasqueros” in Iquitos who have sent some gringo initiates home “basket cases”. Other evil “ayahuasqueros” drug their initiates with Brugmansia or Datura and take their money while they are under the influence. We’re not sure how to tell genuine from phoney “ayahuasqueros”. Antonio takes up to four small calabash cups (while none of his associates/patients take more than three) of this witches brew, usually starting late at night. First one becomes nauseated, then inebriated, in an hour or so, and all passes within a few hours. During the “highs”, Antonio sees beautiful and colorful visions, of long lost or deceased friends, of friends who have moved to large cities in the US, strange animals and spirits of the trees, etc. Most impresive of all his visions, and a real show stopper for ACEER classes, are Antonio’s sweeping gestures, as he discusses the thousand-color rainbow that wraps around the “ayahuasquero” like a cosmic whirlpool. As he described it so vividly, Duke lost track of his translation duties, caught up in the vortex.
Ayahuasca and Public Health II: Health Status in a Large Sample of Ayahuasca-Ceremony Participants in the Netherlands
Published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2023
Maja Kohek, Genís Ona, Michiel van Elk, Rafael Guimarães Dos Santos, Jaime E. C. Hallak, Miguel Ángel Alcázar-Córcoles, José Carlos Bouso
The majority of the study participants (57.8%) started using ayahuasca more than five years ago, and more than half of the sample (55.2%) participated in an ayahuasca ceremony less than six months before participating in the study. In relation to frequency of attendance at ayahuasca ceremonies, 30% of the study respondents reported having participated more than 100 times in their lives. Most participants were either members of the Santo Daime church (40.3%) or attended neo-shamanic ceremonies led by local practitioners (40.6%) (see Table 3). Respondents reported mainly drinking ayahuasca made with Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis (63.9%). Ayahuasca analogues (e.g., jurema) made with Mimosa hostilis and Peganum harmala (Syrian Rue) or other similar mixtures were drunk by fewer participants (6.4%). Drinking both, ayahuasca and its analogues, was reported by only 5% of the respondents. Some respondents did not know what brew they had drank (6.9%), and the rest (17.8%) did not respond to the question. A possibility remains that some participants (particularly those attending neo-shamanic ceremonies) reported drinking ayahuasca unaware of it being analogues.
Ayahuasca, a potentially rapid acting antidepressant: focus on safety and tolerability
Published in Expert Opinion on Drug Safety, 2022
Giordano Novak Rossi, Isabella Caroline da Silva Dias, Glen Baker, José Carlos Bouso Saiz, Serdar M. Dursun, Jaime E. C. Hallak, Rafael G. Dos Santos
In this regard, classical hallucinogens (also known as serotoninergic hallucinogens or psychedelics) are currently being investigated as potential rapid-acting antidepressants, amongst other therapeutic applications [6,7]. These drugs include psilocybin (produced by psychoactive mushrooms), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD, derived from the ergot fungus), mescaline (produced by psychoactive cactus such as peyote) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). The last-mentioned of these compounds is proposed to be is the main psychoactive substance in ayahuasca, a botanical preparation usually made by the decoction of the stalks of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine together with the leaves of the bush Psychotria viridis [8]. Ayahuasca is traditionally used in the ritualistic context by indigenous tribes from the Amazon Basin and more recently (20th century onward) in religious rituals in South America and other countries [8]. Besides DMT, which comes from P. viridis, ayahuasca also contains a class of substances called beta-carbolines (or harmala alkaloids), most notably harmine, tetrahydroharmine (THH) and harmaline [9]. These compounds are found in B. caapi and are responsible for inhibiting the function of the enzyme monoamine oxidase type A (MAO-A) in the human body, allowing DMT to reach the central nervous system (CNS) [9]. DMT acts primarily as an agonist of serotoninergic 5-HT1A,2A,2C receptors, and it is thought that its interaction with 5-HT2A receptors is the main pharmacological mechanism by which DMT/ayahuasca (and other psychedelics) manifest their effects [8,10–12].
Ayahuasca Lyophilization (Freeze-drying) Protocol with Pre- and Post-procedure Alkaloids Quantification
Published in Journal of Psychoactive Drugs, 2022
Dimitri Daldegan-Bueno, Vanessa Manchim Favaro, Luís Fernando Tófoli, Alessandra Sussulini, Fernando Cassas, Maria Gabriela Menezes Oliveira
Ayahuasca is an ancient psychedelic concoction of different Amazonian plants, and is an important facet of many practices, including therapeutic, of South American native people. Ayahuasca’s most common preparation consists of the decoction of the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and the Psychotria viridis leaves (Anderson et al. 2012; Luna 2011). The vine possesses several β-carboline alkaloids, from which the most studied are harmine (HME), harmaline (HML), and tetrahydroharmine (THH). The main compound of the leaves is the N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a tryptamine with no psychoactive effect if orally ingested given the deamination process performed by the monoamine oxidases (MAO) present in the liver and the gut. Therefore, the psychoactive effect of ayahuasca occurs mainly due to the synergy between the β-carbolines, which act as competitive inhibitors of the MAO-A enzyme, and DMT (Domínguez-Clavé et al. 2016).