Historical overview of psychoactive mushrooms
Inflammation and Regeneration January 1, 2009 Yoshihiro Matsushima, Fumio Eguchi, Tadahiro Kikukawa et al. 29 citations
Psychoactive mushrooms have been used by humans for medical, recreational, religious, and ritual purposes since prehistory. They produce agents such as psilocybin, psilocin, ibotenic acid, and muscimol, which act on neurotransmitter receptors: psilocybin and psilocin are agonists at 5-HT1A and 5-HT2A/C receptors, ibotenic acid at glutamic acid receptors, and muscimol at GABAA receptors. A newer agent, aeruginascin, has been isolated. Psilocybin and psilocin show high therapeutic potential for obsessive-compulsive disorder, a difficult-to-treat nervous disease. This review covers the history, classification, distribution, and therapeutic effects of psychoactive mushrooms, with special attention to their use in Japan.