Ayahuasca, Pain, and Inflammation: A Systematic Review of Preclinical Studies
Psychoactives – July 15, 2025
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Ayahuasca shows significant potential in pain relief and inflammation reduction, with 29 out of 1,535 reviewed studies confirming its benefits. Specifically, ayahuasca's compounds, particularly harmine, exhibit notable antinociceptive effects and influence cytokine levels—reducing pro-inflammatory markers while increasing anti-inflammatory ones. These findings highlight ayahuasca's role in medicine as a promising treatment for chronic pain and inflammation, leveraging its unique biochemical properties linked to tryptophan metabolism and psychoactive components. Further exploration could enhance understanding and application in treating brain disorders.
Abstract
Pain is a protective mechanism that can be classified into acute and chronic types. Ayahuasca is a psychoactive brew rich in dimethyltryptamine or DMT (a 5-HT2A receptor agonist), and harmine (a monoamine-oxidase (MAO) inhibitor) used for religious and therapeutic purposes. Previous preclinical and anecdotal evidence suggests that ayahuasca and its compounds have antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects due to 5-HT2A agonism and MAO inhibition. Thus, the current study aims to provide a systematic review of the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of ayahuasca and its alkaloids in preclinical models. All studies published up to December 2024 were screened and evaluated for eligibility. A total of 1535 publications were identified, of which 29 adhered to the predefined criteria. Reviewed articles reported antinociceptive effects of ayahuasca, harmine, and harmaline. Regarding anti-inflammatory effects, the compounds of ayahuasca, especially harmine, have demonstrated a reduction and an increase in pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, respectively. Although there are promising results regarding the antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory effects of ayahuasca and its alkaloids, further investigation is needed.