Identification of N,N-dimethyltryptamine and beta-carbolines in psychotropic ayahuasca beverage.
Recently many people have shown great interest in traditional indigenous practices and popular medicine, involving the ingestion of natural psychotropic drugs. We received a request to analyze and determine the nature of a dark green liquid with a dark brown plant sediment, which the police had seized at an airport and inside the home of a person belonging to the 'Santo Daime' religious movement. Gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis of the extract identified N,N-dimethyltryptamine, a potent hallucinogen, and the beta-carboline alkaloids harmine and harmaline, revealing monoamine oxidase A-inhibiting properties. These substances are typical components of Ayahuasca, a South American psychotropic beverage obtained by boiling the bark of the liana Banisteriopsis caapi together with the leaves of various admixture plants, principally Psychotria viridis.
Gambelunghe
Cristiana
C
Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Division of Legal and Sports Medicine, University of Perugia, Italy. cristiana.gamelunghe@unipg.it
Aroni
Kyriaki
K
Rossi
Riccardo
R
Moretti
Luca
L
Bacci
Mauro
M
D031581:Banisteriopsis / Q000737:chemistry; D001628:Beverages / Q000032:analysis*; D002243:Carbolines / Q000032:analysis*; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / Q000379:methods*; D004130:N,N-Dimethyltryptamine / Q000032:analysis*
D002243:Carbolines; D004130:N,N-Dimethyltryptamine