ayahuasca- healing vine of the soul

8/14/2019 Ayahuasca- Healing Vine of the Soul

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Ayahuasca: Healing Vine of the Soul

Dennis J. McKenna, Ph.D.Heffter Research Institutewww.heffter.org


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What is Ayahuasca?Ayahausca is Quechua for vine of the soulsIt is a hallucinogenic beverage that forms animportant component of Amazonianshamanism and ethnomedicineIt is the legal sacrament for at least threesyncretic religions in BrasilIt has a reputation (deserved or not) as ahealing medicineIt is also known by other names, e.g. yage,hoasca, natema, etc.

Image of an

ayahuasca spiritfrom the NWAmazon


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Ayahuasca has a Unique PharmacologyIts psychoactivity depends on a synergy between twoclasses of active constituents:

The leaf admixtures, Psychotria or Diplopterys species,contain the potent hallucinogen, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine(DMT)DMT alone is not orally active, due to inactivation byperipheral Monoamine Oxidase (MAO) in the gut andliverDMT can be rendered orally active by co-administration

with an MAO inhibitorBanisteriopsis contains harmine and other -carbolinealkaloids, which are potent, reversible MAO inhibitors


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Left: preparation of ayahuasca by

Mestizo shamans in PeruvianAmazon

Below: UDV preparo in Manuas,Brasil. The brew is prepared on anindustrial scale, and it is notuncommon for several hundredparishioners to consume it in groupceremonies

Ceremonial ayahuascavessel from the NWAmazon


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SYNAESTHESIA BY PABLO AMARINGO, PERUVIAN PAINTER &

AYAHUASQUERO

The visionary statesinduced by ayahuascaresemble dreams or otherpsychedelic states likethose induced bypsilocybin mushrooms.For the ayahuasquero,they are a window into asupernatural realm of myth and symbol, magicand witchcraft.

The ayahuasca state is thedimension in whichayahuasqueros can dotheir healing, or thebrujos do their harm.


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on Jose Coral, Curing

Don Jose Coral, SmokingMapacho

Don Fidel & Don Jose,Pucallpa

Don Emilio Andrade,

Iquitos

PERUVIAN AYAHUASQUEROS


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Don Jose Coral at age 99. One of the last of the old school of Ayahuasqueros.Iquitos, Spring 2006


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The UDV/Hoasca StudyThe UDV is a Brasilianreligious group that usesayahuasca as a sacramental

substance (their term for thebrew is hoasca)

In 1993 at the UDVs invitation I participated in a biomedical study of long-term hoasca drinkers that came to be known as the Hoasca Study

It was a truly international collaboration of scientists, includingphysicians, pharmacologists, chemists, and psychiatrists from the US,Brasil, and Finland


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Hoasca Study ResultsThe results of the Hoasca Study have been published in over 8 peer-reviewed publications. The study sparked a revival of

research interest in ayahuasca.Growth in Peer-ReviewedPublications on Ayahuasca

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Key findings from the Hoascastudy

No evidence of acute toxicity

No evidence of neurological, cognitive, or personality dysfunctionsin long-term usersStrong evidence of positive behavioral changes

Most members had histories of drug abuse, alcoholism and domesticviolence before joining the UDV

Initial terrifying experiences with ayahuasca helped them to changelifestyle in a more positive direction

Effects of supportive context are hard to separate from effects of ayahuasca


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Upregulaton of Serotonin TransportersAn unexpected finding was that long-term users had significantly elevated densities

(Bmax) of serotonin transporters in platelets compared to matched controls

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200400600800

10001200

B m a x

( f m

/ m g p r o t e i n )

ControlsUDV

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0

1

2

3

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K d ( n M )

Controls

UDV

J. C. Callaway, M. M. Airaksinen, Dennis J. McKenna, Glacus S. Brito, & Charles S. Grob (1994) Platelet serotoninuptake sites increased in drinkers of ayahuasca. Psychopharmacology 116: 385-387

Receptor affinity (Kd) was not significantly different between groups


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Deficits of brain 5HT transporters and other monoaminetransporters

Have been associated with:

Alcoholism (Type II Alcoholism)Early onset alcoholism & violent/homicidal behavior

Suicidal behaviors

Binge eating

Mantere T, Tupala E, et al. Serotonin transporter distribution and densityin the cerebral cortex of alcoholic and nonalcoholic comparison subjects:

a whole-hemisphere autoradiography study. Am J Psychiatry. 2002Apr;159(4):599-606.

Hallikainen T, Saito T, Lachman HM, et al. Association between lowactivity serotonin transporter promoter genotype and early onsetalcoholism with habitual impulsive violent behavior. Mol Psychiatry. 1999

Jul;4(4):385-8.


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Unanswered questions:

Could long-term use of ayahuasca actually reversethese transporter deficits?

Could it therefore be used in the treatment of

alcoholism and other behavioral dysfunctionsassociated with reduced transporter expression?

THE CORRELATION OF POSITIVEBEHAVIORAL CHANGES IN LONG-TERM MEMBERS OF THE UDV WITHLONG-TERM ELEVATION IN THE

DENSITIES OF SEROTONINTRANSPORTERS SUGGESTS APOSSIBLE NEUROCHEMICALMECHANISM FOR THE BEHAVIORALCHANGES.


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Pablo Amaringo: The Plant Teachers

ayahuasca- healing vine of the soul

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