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Researchers in Brazil are thinking on another level.
They are trying to use monkeys to prove that the ancient psychoactive substance known as ayahuasca is a better anti-depressant than modern pharmaceuticals.
Checkout the full study here.
https://twitter.com/veryapetv/status/975752004705374208
Hit the jump for a full education on ayahuasca.
There is still a lot to be learned about the ancient soup before it can be widely used to treat depression.
Via Discover Magazine:
Ayahuasca has been studied in rodents and humans before, but not non-human primates. And strangely — or not-so-strangely, depending on who you ask — the drug seemed to help the monkeys’ depression.
Its use dates back hundreds of years among Amazonian tribes, and according to one study, regular ayahuasca users “performed better in neuropsychological tests, scored higher in spirituality and showed better psychosocial adaptation.”
Ayahuasca has been shown to be generally safe and non-addictive, illuminating well-being with fast-acting anti-depressive effects in just one dose.
Researchers are looking to classic psychedelics — including ketamine and psilocybin— to see if they hold greater promise. And with the case of the marmosets, ayahuasca did rapidly reduce depression symptoms.
Within 24 hours, the monkeys’ began to eat more, they stopped scratching excessively, and later, their weight returned to baseline levels.
Hit the jump to learn more about ayahuasca’s history and modern uses.
More history on the sacred substance known as ayahuasca.
Via Discovery Magazine:
A lot is going on in ayahuasca, which has two main ingredients. The first, Psychotria viridis, is a perennial shrub called chacruna that contains N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, the so-called “Spirit Molecule.” An incredibly powerful psychedelic, DMT binds to the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, as well as the sigma-1 receptor, both of which have been shown to impact depression regulation.
But DMT is not active orally, so that’s where the second ingredient comes in. Banisteriopsis caapi is a vine that contains tetrahydroharmine, harmine, and harmaline, β-carbolinic alkaloids which are monoamine oxidase inhibitors. MAOIs not only work as antidepressants, they prevent DMT from breaking down in the digestive tract, making it psychoactive for ten hours or more. Tetrahydroharmine is also a weak selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, another class of antidepressant drug.
In other words, ayahuasca is a soup of different chemicals uniquely acting on multiple depression pathways.
A 2017 study funded by Beckley showed that ayahuasca compounds can promote the birth of new brain cells, or neurogenesis, in petri dishes.
Hit the jump to watch Chelsea Handler re-live her ayahuasca experience with Stephen Colbert.
Chelsea and other celebrities have explored ayahuasca’s effects.
Despite its potential healing benefits, even experts within the ayahuasca community warn that it is not an overnight solution for anyome’s problems.