Scientific reports
June 27, 2019
Jon G Dean, Tiecheng Liu, Sean Huff et al.
111 citations
The psychedelic compound N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is produced naturally in mammals, but whether it is made in the brain was unclear. This study found that the enzymes needed to synthesize DMT are present in the cerebral cortex, pineal gland, and choroid plexus of both rats and humans. In rat brain tissues, the two key enzymes were found together, unlike in peripheral tissues. DMT concentrations in the cerebral cortex of behaving rats were similar to those of neurotransmitters like serotonin. DMT levels in the visual cortex rose significantly after cardiac arrest, even without the pineal gland. These findings indicate the rat brain can synthesize and release DMT at neurotransmitter-like levels, suggesting human brains might do the same.
Biomedical chromatography : BMC
December 1, 2013
Steven A Barker, Jimo Borjigin, Izabela Lomnicka et al.
73 citations
A qualitative liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method was developed to simultaneously analyze three known N,N-dimethyltryptamine endogenous hallucinogens, their precursors and metabolites, as well as melatonin and its metabolic precursors. The method was characterized using artificial cerebrospinal fluid and applied to rat brain pineal gland microdialysate. It allows direct injection of 23 chemically diverse compounds plus a deuterated internal standard without dilution or extraction. The approach is simple, sensitive, specific, and uses stringent MS confirmatory criteria including exact mass measurements. For the first time, N,N-dimethyltryptamine was detected in pineal gland microdialysate from the rat.
Scientific reports
January 6, 2023
Nicolas G Glynos, Lily Carter, Soo Jung Lee et al.
17 citations
Indolethylamine N-methyltransferase (INMT) is an enzyme known for producing the psychedelic compound DMT in mammalian brains. Researchers created INMT-knockout rats to determine whether INMT is necessary for DMT production. Brain and lung tissues from both normal and INMT-knockout rats showed equal levels of tryptamine-dependent activity, but the resulting products were neither NMT nor DMT. Rat INMT alone was also insufficient for producing NMT or DMT. These findings indicate an alternative enzymatic pathway for DMT biosynthesis exists in rats, motivating further investigation into how mammals produce DMT naturally.
Frontiers in psychology
January 1, 2025
Emma R Huels, Lily Carter, Gang Xu et al.
Shamanic journeying, an ancient spiritual practice, produces dynamic changes in heart function measurable through heart rate variability (HRV). In a single subject, drumming initiation decreased heart rate and increased HRV measures, while shapeshifting increased heart rate and certain HRV indicators. Qigong meditation also increased HRV measures, with greater changes in some metrics than drumming initiation. These findings suggest shamanic journeying involves widespread cardiac and physiological changes that can be tracked visually and via ultra-short-term HRV.