Pharmañopo-psychonautics: human intranasal, sublingual, intrarectal, pulmonary and oral pharmacology of bufotenine.
Journal of psychoactive drugs – January 01, 2001
Source: PubMed
Summary
Compounds found in traditional South American shamanic preparations, like bufotenine, produce powerful visionary experiences. Human self-experiments confirmed bufotenine's profound effects across various routes. Crucially, combining it with MAO-inhibitors significantly boosts its intranasal potency, validating a 1967 hypothesis about how these ancient mixtures enhance their impact. These bioassays successfully modeled traditional practices, confirming their effectiveness.
Abstract
Summarized are psychonautic bioassays (human self-experiments) of pharmañopo--crystalline bufotenine (5-HO-DMT; 5-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine; dimethylserotonine), at times combined with harmaline or harmine-via intranasal, sublingual, intrarectal, pulmonary (inhaled vapor) and oral routes. This is done by way of pharmacological modeling of diverse South American shamanic inebriants, principally the snuffs ñopolyopo and cebílhaáj, prepared from seeds of Anadenanthera peregrina var. peregrina and A. colubrina var. Cebil, respectively. Psychoptic (visionary) activity of bufotenine has been established and the 1967 Holmstedt-Lindgren hypothesis of the paricá effect-intranasal potentiation of tryptamines by concomitant administration of monoamine-oxidase-inhibiting (MAOI) beta-carbolines from stems of Banisteriopsis caapi admixed with the snuffs-has been confirmed by 25 psychonautic bioassays. Salient phytochemical and psychonautic literature is reviewed, and isolation of bufotenine from Anadenanthera seeds detailed (with one table and eight references).