Mescaline: The forgotten psychedelic

Vamvakopoulou, Ioanna A.; Narine, Kelly A.D.; Campbell, Ian; Dyck, Jason R.B.; Nutt, David

doi:10.1016/j.neuropharm.2022.109294

Cited by 29 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…About 20 alkaloids are extracted from Echinocactus williamsii , the most important of which is mescaline [ 85 ] ( Figure 5 B). Mescaline is an alkaloid, biosynthetically derived from amino acids, with a chemical structure similar to monoamine neurotransmitters, and psychomimetic activity [ 85 , 90 ]. It is used by the natives of Central America both for its exciting and intoxicating properties and for the attractive hallucinations it causes [ 8 , 86 , 87 ].…”

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is used by the natives of Central America both for its exciting and intoxicating properties and for the attractive hallucinations it causes [ 8 , 86 , 87 ]. In particular, it is capable of altering the basal psychic state leading to a condition of psychomotor arousal with euphoria and lively abnormal psychosensory manifestations (olfactory, auditory and above all visual hallucinations), symptoms of depersonalization and alterations in space-time orientation [ 90 , 91 ]. Some hallucinatory phenomena, called synesthetic phenomena, are characteristic, consisting in the fact that a perception, for example auditory, causes lively chromatic sensations.…”

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some hallucinatory phenomena, called synesthetic phenomena, are characteristic, consisting in the fact that a perception, for example auditory, causes lively chromatic sensations. The substance is active at a dose between 100 and 400 mg per person orally [ 90 , 92 ].…”

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Regarding the pharmacological aspects, mescaline is considered an agonist of the 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C receptors of serotonin, and of the α2A adrenergic receptor [ 90 , 93 , 94 , 95 ]. In contrast, mescaline shows low affinity for other serotonergic receptors and for dopamine receptors and monoamine transporters [ 85 , 91 , 93 , 94 , 95 ].…”

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These effects reach their peak around 1 h, last for around 2 h and are dose dependent. Regarding hallucinogenic effects, all psychedelic 5-HT2A receptor agonists induce head-twitch behaviour in both mice and rats [ 90 , 97 ]. This behaviour is not observed with selective 5-HT2A receptor agonists.…”

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

The Bright Side of Psychedelics: Latest Advances and Challenges in Neuropharmacology

Mastinu

Anyanwu

Carone

et al. 2023

IJMS

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The need to identify effective therapies for the treatment of psychiatric disorders is a particularly important issue in modern societies. In addition, difficulties in finding new drugs have led pharmacologists to review and re-evaluate some past molecules, including psychedelics. For several years there has been growing interest among psychotherapists in psilocybin or lysergic acid diethylamide for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder, of depression, or of post-traumatic stress disorder, although results are not always clear and definitive. In fact, the mechanisms of action of psychedelics are not yet fully understood and some molecular aspects have yet to be well defined. Thus, this review aims to summarize the ethnobotanical uses of the best-known psychedelic plants and the pharmacological mechanisms of the main active ingredients they contain. Furthermore, an up-to-date overview of structural and computational studies performed to evaluate the affinity and binding modes to biologically relevant receptors of ibogaine, mescaline, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, psilocin, and lysergic acid diethylamide is presented. Finally, the most recent clinical studies evaluating the efficacy of psychedelic molecules in some psychiatric disorders are discussed and compared with drugs already used in therapy.

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Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Echinocactus Williamsiimentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

The Bright Side of Psychedelics: Latest Advances and Challenges in Neuropharmacology

Mastinu

Anyanwu

Carone

et al. 2023

IJMS

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Traditional medicinal use is linked with apparency, not specialized metabolite profiles in the order Caryophyllales

Crum,

Philander,

Busta

et al. 2024

American J of Botany

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PremiseBetter understanding of the relationship between plant specialized metabolism and traditional medicine has the potential to aid in bioprospecting and untangling of cross‐cultural use patterns. However, given the limited information available for metabolites in most plant species, understanding medicinal use–metabolite relationships can be difficult. The order Caryophyllales has a unique pattern of lineages of tyrosine‐ or phenylalanine‐dominated specialized metabolism, represented by mutually exclusive anthocyanin and betalain pigments, making Caryophyllales a compelling system to explore the relationship between medicine and metabolites by using pigment as a proxy for dominant metabolism.MethodsWe compiled a list of medicinal species in select tyrosine‐ or phenylalanine‐dominant families of Caryophyllales (Nepenthaceae, Polygonaceae, Simmondsiaceae, Microteaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Amaranthaceae, Limeaceae, Molluginaceae, Portulacaceae, Cactaceae, and Nyctaginaceae) by searching scientific literature until no new uses were recovered. We then tested for phylogenetic clustering of uses using a “hot nodes” approach. To test potential non‐metabolite drivers of medicinal use, like how often humans encounter a species (apparency), we repeated the analysis using only North American species across the entire order and performed phylogenetic generalized least squares regression (PGLS) with occurrence data from the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF).ResultsWe hypothesized families with tyrosine‐enriched metabolism would show clustering of different types of medicinal use compared to phenylalanine‐enriched metabolism. Instead, wide‐ranging, apparent clades in Polygonaceae and Amaranthaceae are overrepresented across nearly all types of medicinal use.ConclusionsOur results suggest that apparency is a better predictor of medicinal use than metabolism, although metabolism type may still be a contributing factor.

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Effects of congeners of amphetamine on the human heart

Neumann,

Dhein,

Kirchhefer

et al. 2024

Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's Arch Pharmacol

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Central stimulatory and hallucinogenic drugs of abuse like amphetamine and most congeners of amphetamine can have cardiac harmful effects. These cardiac side effects can lead to morbidities and death. In this paper, we review current knowledge on the direct and indirect effects of these amphetamine congeners on the mammalian heart—more specifically, the isolated human heart muscle preparation. In detail, we address the question of whether and how these drugs affect cardiac contractility and their mechanisms of action. Based on this information, further research areas are defined, and further research efforts are proposed.

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Mescaline: The forgotten psychedelic

Cited by 29 publications

References 57 publications

The Bright Side of Psychedelics: Latest Advances and Challenges in Neuropharmacology

The Bright Side of Psychedelics: Latest Advances and Challenges in Neuropharmacology

Traditional medicinal use is linked with apparency, not specialized metabolite profiles in the order Caryophyllales

Effects of congeners of amphetamine on the human heart

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