The effects of beta-carbolines in rats trained with ibogaine as a discriminative stimulus.
European journal of pharmacology – March 19, 1998
Source: PubMed
Summary
The brain can be trained to distinguish subtle drug effects. Researchers investigated if certain natural compounds, beta-carbolines, mimic ibogaine's unique internal sensations. Rats trained to identify ibogaine's effects responded to compounds like 6-methoxyharmalan as nearly identical. Other beta-carbolines, including harmine, showed partial similarity. This provides compelling evidence that an ibogaine-like effect is shared among several of these compounds.
Abstract
The structural features and hallucinogenic properties shared by ibogaine and certain beta-carbolines prompted the evaluation of several representative beta-carbolines in rats trained with ibogaine as a discriminative stimulus. In a previous report from our laboratory harmaline completely substituted for ibogaine (83.5%). In the present study, only 6-methoxyharmalan completely substituted (86.3%). However, partial substitution was observed with harmine, harmane, harmalol, and tetrahydro-beta-carboline (THBC). Norharmane and 6,7-dimethoxy-4-ethyl-carboline-3-carboxylate (DMCM) failed to produce appreciable substitution. These results provide evidence for an ibogaine-like ether this extends to the previously reported anti-addictive effects of ibogaine remains to be established.