Ayahuasca: N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) a Psychedelic tool with Psychoplastogenic Properties

Abstract

Ayahuasca, a tea initially used by Amerindian people, for medicinal, religious and sacramental purposes, and later spread in many parts of the world in urban contexts, which, in addition to its religious and spiritual use, also recreational use. The ayahuasca tea contains a very characteristic chemical profile consisting of psychoactive alkaloids that are N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) with tryptamine structure, and harmala alkaloids with a β-carbolines structure, which administered orally, in synergy, acts on receptors in cells, mainly in central nervous system. The activation of the 5-HT1A/1B/1D/2A/2B/2C/6/7 receptors, Sigma-1 (S1R) intracellular receptors and TAAR1 receptors, glutamatergic receptors, and by modulation of the dopaminergic system, may explain its antidepressant and anti-addictive therapeutic properties. The specific activation of receptor 5-HT2A, not yet fully elucidated, apparently has properties that induce neuronal plasticity, a property called psychoplastogenic, stimulating neurogenesis, proliferation, migration and neuronal differentiation, increasing the complexity of dendritic tree, stimulating the neuritogenesis, spinogenesis and synapse formation in vitro and in vivo, in cell culture and in mice. These properties, if properly studied, can be used in modern medicine, helping in various health disorders as a possible complementary tool.