• Shawn
    13.2k
    In the following study, for the first time, the presence of DMT has been discovered as naturally occurring in normal mammalian brains, specifically the pineal gland or what New Age gurus refer to the center of the human "soul". This confirms what many psychedelic researchers have hypothesized for a long time. But, what are the implications of this finding?

    Thoughts and ideas welcome.

    In the past few years, thrill-seekers from Hollywood, Silicon Valley and beyond have been travelling to South America to take part in so-called Ayahuasca retreats. Their goal: to partake in a brewed concoction made from a vine plant Banisteriopsis caapi, traditionally used by indigenous people for sacred religious ceremonies. Drinkers of Ayahuasca experience short-term hallucinogenic episodes many describe as life-changing.

    The active ingredient responsible for these psychedelic visions is a molecule called dimethyltryptamine (DMT). For the first time, a team led by Michigan Medicine has discovered the widespread presence of naturally-occurring DMT in the mammalian brain. The finding is the first step toward studying DMT-- and figuring out its role -- within the brains of humans.

    “DMT is not just in plants, but also can be detected in mammals,” says Jimo Borjigin, Ph.D., of the Department of Molecular and Integrative Physiology. Her interest in DMT came about accidentally. Before studying the psychedelic, her research focused on melatonin production in the pineal gland.

    In the seventeenth century, the philosopher Rene Descartes claimed that the pineal gland, a small pinecone-shaped organ located deep in the center of the brain, was the seat of the soul. Since its discovery, the pineal gland, known by some as the third eye, has been shrouded in mystery. Scientists now know it controls the production of melatonin, playing an important role in modulating circadian rhythms, or the body’s internal clock. However, an online search for notes to include in a course she was teaching opened Borjigin’s eyes to a thriving community still convinced of the pineal gland’s mystical power.
    ‘Mystical’ Psychedelic Compound Found in Normal Brains
  • I like sushi
    4.8k
    Halle-fucking-lujah! About time!

    Not even looked at the study yet so maybe I’m jumping the gun.

    This is HUGE if it’s true. I’m fairly convinced I had a DMT explosion in my brain around 7 yrs ago. I know this was found in rats brains a fee years back, but this could be one of the most monumental discoveries of the 21st century!

    I’ve not yet taken DMT myself so I cannot compare my ‘natural’ experience to the more ‘artificial’ effects of DMT introduced from external sources.

    Better read the article and prepare myself for disappointment ...
  • I like sushi
    4.8k
    I did jump the gun ... :(

    These results show for the first time that the rat brain is capable of synthesizing and releasing DMT at concentrations comparable to known monoamine neurotransmitters and raise the possibility that this phenomenon may occur similarly in human brains.

    No actual hard evidence as yet. Guess we’ll have to wait a few more years/decades before this discovery is made ... obviously I’m fairly convinced but let’s not assume what isn’t proven just yet.

    Excited now lowered ... haha! Nice news though :)
  • Shawn
    13.2k
    Better read the article and prepare myself for disappointment ...I like sushi

    Nope, no disappointment. DMT was found in the neocortex and hippocampus, not exclusive to the pineal gland, which makes the role of DMT in the brain all the more complex. We might see a day when those with abnormally high levels of DMT produced, such as schizophrenics or bipolar people (my hypothesis), or too low, depressives, be administered drugs that either block or promote its activity on respective receptors.

    No actual hard evidence as yet. Guess we’ll have to wait a few more years/decades before this discovery is made ... obviously, I’m fairly convinced but let’s not assume what isn’t proven just yet.I like sushi

    Well, it's about as close you're gonna get to make a comparison with a human brain. I mean, you can't really dissect a human brain.
  • leo
    882
    Some people call psychedelic experiences more real than reality.

    Some other animals take psychedelics too, and seemingly not for the sake of eating.

    In my view there is a huge vastness to explore that hasn't been explored, and what we usually call the universe is a tiny part of it.

    The crazies of an era can be the sane people of another.
  • I like sushi
    4.8k
    It’s not set in stone! I’m HIGHLY skeptical when it comes to scientific data on something I strongly believe to be true.

    DMT has NOT yet been discovered naturally occurring in the human brain. This study seems to be a follow up on what I mentioned in my original outburst ... it’s hard confirmation that DMT naturally occurs in rat brains. Something found a few years ago.

    Whatever it was I experienced it was CERTAINLY more ‘real than reality’ - I actually used those very words. It wasn’t a ‘high’ though.

    Anyway, I’ll be looking further into where this can lead in future research. If anyone finds anything I’d VERY much like to hear about it.

    Thanks
  • Terrapin Station
    13.8k
    what are the implications of this finding?Wallows

    That my brain is DMT deficient.
  • fdrake
    6.5k
    Thing with mystical interpretation found in human body, I'll man the walls of reason until the woo parade passes.

    Edit: turns out it was found in rats. Not humans. Great.
  • Nuke
    116
    For those new to the subject of DMT, here's a good intro vid. Scientific study, not new age propaganda.



    Some people call psychedelic experiences more real than reality.leo

    Yes, that's about what those in the above video said. Some reported that what they experienced on DMT felt more real than normal life.
  • TheMadFool
    13.8k
    One implication that gets me all excited is the possibility, just a possibility nothing else, that plants could have the power of thought; after all, many of these psychedelic substances which operate on animal nervous systems (thought centers) seem to have "lowly" plant origins.

    Could it be that our nervous system has a fundamental connection to plants? :chin:
  • Gregory
    4.7k
    I've done regular DMT and am sure it was the same thing as dreams I had as a kid. Both were similar and great. Same chemical. 5meo dmt is scarier and deeper i hear. My best friend has been doing it lately. He said suchly. I refuse to try it
  • elphidium55
    8
    Some people call psychedelic experiences more real than reality.

    Here's an example of the difference between reality and psychedelic experiences.

    As a geologist, I mapped some of the rock units in a particular quadrangle in the Wasatch mountains of Utah. Another geologist could go out and map the rocks in the same quadrangle and our maps would be more or less identical. Why? Because these rock units are objectively real features of this particular quadrangle in Utah.

    Now take my geologist friend and I and put us in the same room and ask us to describe the color of the room. We both answer "blue." Now give us a hallucinogenic that is know to effect our visual cortex and then asks us what the color of the room is. I say "orange" and my friend says "green". As the experience continues, I later see it as "yellow" and my friend sees it as "red."

    So which color is it - blue, orange, green, yellow or red? The room cannot logically be all these colors at once. It's a fundamental axiom of rationality that something cannot be both itself and not itself in the same way at the same time. The room cannot be simultaneously both blue and not blue (ie. orange/green/yellow/red).

    So what's an alternative explanation? Could we say there is no objective fact about the color of the room? Should we say that our perception of color does not map itself in any consistent way to the world around us? Is our color perception purely subjective?

    Okay, let's imagine the following experiment. There is a tribe of ancient hunter-gatherers, half of whom see tigers as orange things and half of whom see tigers as sometimes orange or green or yellow or red. What will happen over the long term. I submit that those who cannot consistently distinguish between colors will be at a selective disadvantage. Over time, natural selection will weed out the color compromised group.

    The moral is this: if our senses are not reliable enough to reasonably detect threats in our environment, then humanity's survival is either a very happy accident or a miracle. So, yes, there seems to an objective reality around us.
  • Janus
    16.2k
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