Reproductive effects of the psychoactive beverage ayahuasca in male Wistar rats after chronic exposure
Revista Brasileira de Farmacognosia March 9, 2017 Alana de Fátima Andrade Santos, Ana Luiza Sarkis Vieira, Aline Pic‐taylor et al. 19 citations
Chronic ayahuasca exposure in male Wistar rats reduced food intake and body weight gain at higher doses and increased relative brain and stomach weight at the highest dose. Total serum testosterone increased and sperm transit time and reserves in the epididymis caudae decreased at four times the ritualistic dose, but not at the highest dose. No effects were observed on sperm motility, morphology, total count, daily production, or testis and epididymis histology. The no-observed-adverse-effect-level for chronic and reproductive effects was two times the ritualistic dose, corresponding to 0.62 mg/kg bw DMT, 6.6 mg/kg bw harmine, and 0.52 mg/kg bw harmaline. A non-monotonic dose-response suggests potential toxicity at intermediate doses.