Investigation of Ayahuasca β-Carboline Alkaloids and Tryptamine in Sweat Samples from Religious Community Participants by GC-MS
Journal of Analytical Toxicology January 21, 2020 Lidiane Silva Tavares, Fernanda Monedeiro, Dayanne Mozaner Bordin et al. 15 citations
Sweat can be used to detect the main active components of ayahuasca—harmine, harmaline, and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT)—during religious rituals. A solid-phase extraction method under basic conditions showed high selectivity and extraction efficiency above 70%, with accuracy between 87.5 and 102.4% and precision below 10%. Detection limits were 15 ng/patch for harmine and harmaline and 10 ng/patch for DMT. Sweat offers a non-invasive, simple collection alternative that does not disrupt rituals, making it a viable matrix for monitoring ayahuasca use.