scholarly journals Beyond the Psychoactive Effects of Ayahuasca: Cultural and Pharmacological Relevance of Its Emetic and Purging Properties

Planta Medica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo Politi ◽  
Giorgia Tresca ◽  
Luigi Menghini ◽  
Claudio Ferrante
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Cultural Relevance ◽  
Herbal Preparation ◽  
Limited Data ◽  
Pharmacological Activities ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Psychoactive Effects ◽  
Mental Health Effects ◽  
Tourism Community ◽  
Shed Light

AbstractThe herbal preparation ayahuasca has been an important part of ritual and healing practices, deployed to access invisible worlds in several indigenous groups in the Amazon basin and among mestizo populations of South America. The preparation is usually known to be composed of two main plants, Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, which produce both hallucinogenic and potent purging and emetic effects; currently, these are considered its major pharmacological activities. In recent decades, the psychoactive and visionary effect of ayahuasca has been highly sought after by the shamanic tourism community, which led to the popularization of ayahuasca use globally and to a cultural distancing from its traditional cosmological meanings, including that of purging and emesis. Further, the field of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology has also produced relatively limited data linking the phytochemical diversity of ayahuasca with the different degrees of its purging and emetic versus psychoactive effects. Similarly, scientific interest has also principally addressed the psychological and mental health effects of ayahuasca, overlooking the cultural and pharmacological importance of the purging and emetic activity. The aim of this review is therefore to shed light on the understudied purging and emetic effect of ayahuasca herbal preparation. It firstly focuses on reviewing the cultural relevance of emesis and purging in the context of Amazonian traditions. Secondly, on the basis of the main known phytochemicals described in the ayahuasca formula, a comprehensive pharmacological evaluation of their emetic and purging properties is presented.

scholarly journals The ethnobotany of psychoactive plant use: a phylogenetic perspective

PeerJ ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. e2546 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nashmiah Aid Alrashedy ◽  
Jeanmaire Molina
Keyword(s):  
Morning Glory ◽  
Neurotransmitter Systems ◽  
Psychoactive Plants ◽  
Religious Rituals ◽  
Evolutionary Origins ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Differential Gene Regulation ◽  
Psychoactive Effects ◽  
Plant Families ◽  
Disproportionate Number

Psychoactive plants contain chemicals that presumably evolved as allelochemicals but target certain neuronal receptors when consumed by humans, altering perception, emotion and cognition. These plants have been used since ancient times as medicines and in the context of religious rituals for their various psychoactive effects (e.g., as hallucinogens, stimulants, sedatives). The ubiquity of psychoactive plants in various cultures motivates investigation of the commonalities among these plants, in which a phylogenetic framework may be insightful. A phylogeny of culturally diverse psychoactive plant taxa was constructed with their psychotropic effects and affected neurotransmitter systems mapped on the phylogeny. The phylogenetic distribution shows multiple evolutionary origins of psychoactive families. The plant families Myristicaceae (e.g., nutmeg), Papaveraceae (opium poppy), Cactaceae (peyote), Convolvulaceae (morning glory), Solanaceae (tobacco), Lamiaceae (mints), Apocynaceae (dogbane) have a disproportionate number of psychoactive genera with various indigenous groups using geographically disparate members of these plant families for the same psychoactive effect, an example of cultural convergence. Pharmacological traits related to hallucinogenic and sedative potential are phylogenetically conserved within families. Unrelated families that exert similar psychoactive effects also modulate similar neurotransmitter systems (i.e., mechanistic convergence). However, pharmacological mechanisms for stimulant effects were varied even within families suggesting that stimulant chemicals may be more evolutionarily labile than those associated with hallucinogenic and sedative effects. Chemically similar psychoactive chemicals may also exist in phylogenetically unrelated lineages, suggesting convergent evolution or differential gene regulation of a common metabolic pathway. Our study has shown that phylogenetic analysis of traditionally used psychoactive plants suggests multiple ethnobotanical origins and widespread human dependence on these plants, motivating pharmacological investigation into their potential as modern therapeutics for various neurological disorders.

scholarly journals Plants with possible psychoactive effects used by the Krahô Indians, Brazil

2006 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 277-282 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eliana Rodrigues ◽  
E A Carlini
Keyword(s):  
Psychiatric Disorders ◽  
Review Of Literature ◽  
Review Of The Literature ◽  
Stimulant Effect ◽  
Psychoactive Plants ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Pharmacological Studies ◽  
Psychoactive Effects ◽  
Tranquilizing Effect ◽  
Brazilian Biodiversity

OBJECTIVE: In spite of the richness of the Brazilian biodiversity, no phytomedicines have been developed from this flora with the purpose of being used in psychiatric treatments. The objective of the present study was to document the use of plants with possible psychoactive effects in rituals performed by the Krahô Indians, who live in the cerrado savannahs biome in the central region of Brazil. Also, the present data were compared with the data obtained during a review of the literature on the use of psychoactive plants by 25 Brazilian indigenous groups. METHOD: The study was carried out during two years of fieldwork during which anthropological and botanical methods were employed. RESULTS: Seven local shamans were interviewed and they indicated 98 formulas, consisting of 45 plant species that appear to have psychoactive properties and were used in 25 different treatments. Some of the psychoactive properties were "prevention of madness", "stimulant effect", "tranquilizing effect", "prevention of tremors", "longer sleeping period", "open mind" and "induction of sleep". This article also describes the review of literature, which recorded 58 plants that may have psychoactive effects used by 25 Brazilian Indian cultures. CONCLUSION: The treatment of psychological/psychiatric disorders based on the plants used by the Krahô Indians is very rich. It is also observed among other Brazilian indigenous groups. Future phytochemical and pharmacological studies on these plants may develop new medicines to treat psychiatric disorders.

An elite scaffold and a wonder pharmacophore in drug discovery: Styrylquinoline

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meenakshi Dhanawat ◽  
Dinesh Kumar Mehta ◽  
Rina Das
Keyword(s):  
Drug Discovery ◽  
Ex Vivo ◽  
Drug Candidate ◽  
Potential Drug ◽  
Pharmacological Activities ◽  
Phenyl Rings ◽  
Rigid Conformation ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Antiretroviral Activity

: Styrylquinoline is quinoline molecule linked to phenyl rings with an unsaturated ethylene linker, resulting in a flat and rigid conformation. The synthesis of the molecule was reported almost a century ago but was not much explored due to its adverse toxicity and poor selectivity. In the last two decades plethora of work was reported related to synthesis and antiretroviral activity of several styrylquinoline derivatives. Later, other activities such as their antimicrobial and anticancer abilities of these derivatives were also reported. In this review, we summarize the diverse steps of the development and analyze the spectrum of the activity of styrylquinolines and their utilization in drug design. Styrylquinolines are extensively explored for new pharmacological activities in recent years and this makes the moiety to gain more visibility as a potential drug candidate and lead molecule in medicinal chemistry. The data obtained in vitro and ex vivo shed light on their different mechanism of actions. Styrylquinolines have proved to be potential lead molecule in medicinal chemist’s tool kit due to exploration of variety of avenues of its activity as a drug candidate.

scholarly journals Macroscopic aspects of Saimiri sciureus dura mater

2011 ◽  
Vol 31 (suppl 1) ◽  
pp. 7-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Fernando Marques Barcellos ◽  
Érika Branco ◽  
Emerson T Fioretto ◽  
Aline A Imbeloni ◽  
José A.P.C Muniz ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Dura Mater ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
Parietal Bone ◽  
Sinus Venosus ◽  
Saimiri Sciureus ◽  
South American ◽  
Pia Mater ◽  
Young Females ◽  
Shed Light

Saimiri sciureus is a small New World primate (NHP) commonly called macaco-de-cheiro that inhabits the tropical forests of the Amazon basin. Anatomical features are not well studied in most primates, and the encephalic morphology and related structures are still quite unknown. Comparative anatomy of the meninges in South American primates is still scarce. Dura mater, arachnoid and pia mater are a group of stratified layers that surrounds and promotes protection to the medulla spinalis. This study aimed to shed light on the anatomy of dura mater in Samiri sciureus in order to contribute to the neuroscience in primates. We investigated three young females and two males of S. sciureus. Specimens were fixed through perfusion with a 10% formaldehyde aqueous solution. In S. sciureus encephalus few gyrus and circunvolutions, and a very delicate system consisting of eight sinus venosus was found between the dura mater layers. Based on our findings, we can conclude that the Saimiri sciureus dura mater is quite similar to other mammals, however we detected a new sinus venosus formation at the level of parietal bone, named sinus parietalis, what appears to be its first description.

The Call of the Wild: Rethinking Food Production in Ancient Amazonia

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 371-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eduardo G. Neves ◽  
Michael J. Heckenberger
Keyword(s):  
Food Production ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Intermediate Stage ◽  
Plant Domestication ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Middle Holocene ◽  
Nature And Culture ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
The World ◽  
Traditional Societies

The Amazon basin is accepted as an independent center of plant domestication in the world. A variety of important plants were domesticated in the Amazon and its surroundings; however, the majority of plants cultivated today in the Amazon are not domesticated, if this descriptor is understood to convey substantial genetic and phenotypic divergence from wild varieties or species. Rather, many domesticates are trees and tubers that occupy an intermediate stage between wild and domesticated, which seems to be a prevailing pattern since at least the middle Holocene, 6,000 years ago. Likewise, basin-wide inventories of trees show a remarkable pattern where a few species, called hyperdominant, are overrepresented in the record, including many varieties that are economically and symbolically important to traditional societies. Cultivation practices among indigenous groups in the Amazon are embedded in other dimensions of meaning that go beyond subsistence, and such entanglement between nature and culture has long been noticed at the conceptual level by anthropologists. This principle manifests itself in ancient and dynamic practices of landscape construction and transformation, which are seriously threatened today by the risks posed by economic development and climate change to Amazonian traditional societies and biomes.

scholarly journals Is Kambô psychoactive? Acute and subacute effects of the secretion of the Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) on human consciousness

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timo Torsten Schmidt ◽  
Simon Reiche ◽  
Caroline L. C. Hage ◽  
Felix Bermpohl ◽  
Tomislav Majić
Keyword(s):  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Bioactive Peptides ◽  
Psychological Effects ◽  
Altered States ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Urban Centers ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
States Of Consciousness ◽  
Psychoactive Effects

ABSTRACTKambô is the name for the secretion of the Giant Leaf Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) containing a plethora of bioactive peptides. Originally, it is ritually used by different ethnicities from the Amazon basin as a remedy against bad luck in hunting. In the last twenty years, Kambô has spread to Western urban centers, often associated with the use of ayahuasca. Anecdotal reports claim beneficial effects on wellbeing and different medical and mental health conditions. However, to date it has been controversial if Kambô elicits altered states of consciousness. Here we retrospectively investigated acute and subacute psychological effects of Kambô in a sample of n = 22 anonymous users (n = 22, mean age: 39 years, ± 8.5; 45.5% female), administering standardized questionnaires for the assessment of psychoactive effects. Acutely, participants reported psychological effects which remained on a mild to moderate level, but no psychedelic-type distortions of perception or thinking. In contrast, persisting effects were predominantly described as positive and pleasant, revealing surprisingly high measures of personal and spiritual significance. Subacute and long-term effects showed some overlap with the “afterglow” phenomena that follow the use of serotonergic psychedelics.

scholarly journals Haplocauda, a New Genus of Fireflies Endemic to the Amazon Rainforest (Coleoptera: Lampyridae)

Insects ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 58
Author(s):  
Luiz Felipe Lima da Silveira ◽  
William Lima ◽  
Cláudio Ruy Vasconcelos da Fonseca ◽  
Joseph McHugh
Keyword(s):  
New Species ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Phylogenetic Analyses ◽  
Sister Group ◽  
Atlantic Rainforest ◽  
Monophyletic Lineage ◽  
Segment Viii ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Three New Species ◽  
Shed Light

Most firefly genera have poorly defined taxonomic boundaries, especially in the Neotropics, where they are more diverse and more difficult to identify. Recent advances that shed light on the diversity of fireflies in South America have focused mainly on Atlantic Rainforest taxa, whereas lampyrids in other biomes remained largely unstudied. We found three new firefly species endemic to the Amazon basin that share unique traits of the male abdomen where sternum VIII and the pygidium are modified and likely work as a copulation clamp. Here we test and confirm the hypothesis that these three species form a monophyletic lineage and propose Haplocauda gen. nov. to accommodate the three new species. Both maximum parsimony and probabilistic (Bayesian and maximum likelihood) phylogenetic analyses confirmed Haplocauda gen. nov. monophyly, and consistently recovered it as the sister group to Scissicauda, fireflies endemic to the Atlantic Rainforest that also feature a copulation clamp on abdominal segment VIII, although with a different configuration. We provide illustrations, diagnostic descriptions, and keys to species based on males and females. The three new species were sampled from different regions, and are likely allopatric, a common pattern among Amazonian taxa.

Comparative aspects of diet in Amazonian forest-dwellers

1991 ◽  
Vol 334 (1270) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Ecology ◽  
Amazon Basin ◽  
Distribution Patterns ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Cultural Character ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Viable Population ◽  
Dietary Niche ◽  
Dietary Ecology ◽  
Lowland Forests

Recent research shows that lowland forests of the Amazon Basin differ in numerous ways including features of climate and soils, faunal composition and forest structure, composition and phenology. Such differences strongly suggest that single-factor models used to explain features of human ecology in Amazonia may be too limited. A comparative study of the dietary ecology of four forest-living indigenous groups in Brazil (Arara, Parakana, Arawete, Mayoruna) revealed a number of differences. Primary crops, as well as animal types most utilized as prey, were found to differ markedly between groups. Although some differences can be accounted for by general environmental factors, no compelling single environmental factor can explain why any one group could not behave dietarily in ways more similar to another. Alany of these intergroup dietary differences appear to represent a type of cultural character displacement that aids in distinguishing the members of one group from another. As all human groups, through the medium of culture, are actual or potential occupants of the same dietary niche, each group may distance itself from potential dietary rivals through cultural conventions. This behaviour may be justified, as the lack of overlap between forest-living groups in combination with generally intense intergroup hostility suggests that the biomass and distribution patterns of critical dietary resources in this environment may set limits to viable population size for particular areas.

scholarly journals A Review on Pharmacological Properties of Zingerone (4-(4-Hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-butanone)

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bilal Ahmad ◽  
Muneeb U. Rehman ◽  
Insha Amin ◽  
Ahmad Arif ◽  
Saiema Rasool ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Natural Products ◽  
Reactive Nitrogen Species ◽  
Zingiber Officinale ◽  
Pharmacological Properties ◽  
Immune Stimulation ◽  
Nitrogen Species ◽  
Pharmacological Activities ◽  
Medicinal Use ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Human And Animal Diseases

Humans have been using natural products for medicinal use for ages. Natural products of therapeutic importance are compounds derived from plants, animals, or any microorganism. Ginger is also one of the most commonly used condiments and a natural drug in vogue. It is a traditional medicine, having some active ingredients used for the treatment of numerous diseases. During recent research on ginger, various ingredients like zingerone, shogaol, and paradol have been obtained from it. Zingerone (4-(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl)-2-butanone) is a nontoxic and inexpensive compound with varied pharmacological activities. It is the least pungent component ofZingiber officinale. Zingerone is absent in fresh ginger but cooking or heating transforms gingerol to zingerone. Zingerone closely related to vanillin from vanilla and eugenol from clove. Zingerone has potent anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antilipolytic, antidiarrhoeic, antispasmodic, and so forth properties. Besides, it displays the property of enhancing growth and immune stimulation. It behaves as appetite stimulant, anxiolytic, antithrombotic, radiation protective, and antimicrobial. Also, it inhibits the reactive nitrogen species which are important in causing Alzheimer’s disease and many other disorders. This review is written to shed light on the various pharmacological properties of zingerone and its role in alleviating numerous human and animal diseases.

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