Castro-Neto EF, Cunha RHD, Silveira DXD, Yonamine M, Gouveia TLF, Cavalheiro EA, Amado D, Naffah-Mazzacoratti MDG. Changes in aminoacidergic and monoaminergic neurotransmission in the hippocampus and amygdala of rats after ayahuasca ingestion. World J Biol Chem 2013; 4(4): 141-147 [PMID: 24340137 DOI: 10.4331/wjbc.v4.i4.141]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Maria da Graça Naffah Mazzacoratti, PhD, Associate Professor, Departamento de Bioquímica da Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Pedro de Toledo 669, Edificio de Pesquisa II, 2.o andar, São Paulo, SP 04039032, Brazil. naffahmazz.nexp@epm.br
Research Domain of This Article
Chemistry, Medicinal
Article-Type of This Article
Brief Article
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Biol Chem. Nov 26, 2013; 4(4): 141-147 Published online Nov 26, 2013. doi: 10.4331/wjbc.v4.i4.141
Changes in aminoacidergic and monoaminergic neurotransmission in the hippocampus and amygdala of rats after ayahuasca ingestion
Eduardo Ferreira de Castro-Neto, Rafael Henrique da Cunha, Dartiu Xavier da Silveira, Mauricio Yonamine, Telma Luciana Furtado Gouveia, Esper Abrão Cavalheiro, Débora Amado, Maria da Graça Naffah-Mazzacoratti
Eduardo Ferreira de Castro-Neto, Rafael Henrique da Cunha, Telma Luciana Furtado Gouveia, Esper Abrão Cavalheiro, Débora Amado, Departamento Neurologia/Neurocirurgia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP 04023900, Brazil
Dartiu Xavier da Silveira, Departamento de Psiquiatria, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP 04023900, Brazil
Mauricio Yonamine, Faculdade de Ciências Farmacêuticas, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, SP 05508000, Brazil
Maria da Graça Naffah-Mazzacoratti, Departamento de Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, SP 04023900, Brazil
Author contributions: Silveira DX and Naffah-Mazzacoratti MG were responsible for the study concept and design; Castro-Neto EF and Cunha RH contributed to the acquisition of animal data; Castro-Neto EF performed the HPLC analysis; Castro-Neto EF and Naffah-Mazzacoratti MG assisted with data analysis and interpretation of findings; Yonamine M described the drug components; Silveira DX provided the drug and performed analytical tests; Gouveia TLF, Cavalheiro EA, Amado D and Naffah-Mazzacoratti MG provided critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content; all the authors critically reviewed the content and approved the final version for publication.
Supported by Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo; Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior; Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico; Instituto Nacional de Neurociência Translacional
Correspondence to: Maria da Graça Naffah Mazzacoratti, PhD, Associate Professor, Departamento de Bioquímica da Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Rua Pedro de Toledo 669, Edificio de Pesquisa II, 2.o andar, São Paulo, SP 04039032, Brazil. naffahmazz.nexp@epm.br
Telephone: +55-11-55764848 Fax: +55-11-55764848
Received: May 12, 2013 Revised: September 29, 2013 Accepted: October 17, 2013 Published online: November 26, 2013 Processing time: 210 Days and 19.9 Hours
Core Tip
Core tip: Several studies have indicated that the main component of ayahuasca, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), is structurally similar to serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine or 5-HT) and also has similarities with lysergic acid and mescaline, normally employed in drug addiction. This infusion contained DMT as a principal ingredient in a psychoactive beverage, used by more than 70 different indigenous groups spread throughout Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador. In human beings, it is also present in the brain as an endogenous substance and is found in blood, urine and cerebrospinal fluid. After oral administration of ayahuasca at different doses to naïve rats, we found that ayahuasca ingestion could modify neurotransmitter release in limbic brain structures.
