The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease
February 1, 1996
Charles S. Grob, Dennis J. Mckenna, J. C. Callaway et al.
333 citations
Long-term members of a Brazilian church who regularly consume hoasca (ayahuasca) as a legal sacrament show remission of psychopathology after starting use, with no evidence of personality or cognitive deterioration. Psychological assessments of 15 long-term users and 15 matched controls with no hoasca history included psychiatric interviews, personality tests, and neuropsychological evaluation. Users reported high functional status. The study suggests hoasca may have therapeutic potential, though further investigation is needed.
Journal of Analytical Toxicology
October 1, 1996
J. C. Callaway, Lionel P. Raymon, William Lee Hearn et al.
158 citations
After ritual ingestion of ayahuasca, the highest plasma concentrations in 15 healthy male volunteers were 222.3 ng/mL for harmine, 134.5 ng/mL for tetrahydroharmine, and 9.4 ng/mL for harmaline, with N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) also quantitated. Harmala alkaloids were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection, achieving limits of quantitation below 2 ng/mL; DMT was measured by gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus detection. Recovery was quantitative for all analytes. These are the first reported measurements of DMT and harmala alkaloids in human plasma following ritual ayahuasca ingestion. The methods may apply to other biological matrices.
Psychopharmacology
November 1, 1994
J. C. Callaway, Mauno M. Airaksinen, Dennis J. Mckenna et al.
79 citations
Healthy male drinkers of ayahuasca, a psychoactive Amazonian sacrament, showed an increased number of binding sites for [3H]citalopram on platelet serotonin transporters compared to healthy male controls, while the dissociation constant remained unchanged. If these platelet measures reflect neuronal serotonin uptake activity, the findings suggest either a decreased concentration of extracellular serotonin or a compensatory response to increased serotonin production and release. The authors caution that such changes in serotonin synaptic activity should not be misinterpreted as signs of developing neurological or psychiatric illness.