Ayahuasca as an antidepressant?
Ayahuasca is a psychoactive beverage that has long been used by indigenous people in South America in religious ceremonies and tribal rituals. In recent years, the beverage has emerged as a strong candidate for implementation into psychiatric care, particularly for patients with treatment-resistant depression.
Nicole Leite Galvão-Coelho, PhD, professor of physiology and behavior at UFRN, is one of the authors of that study. She is also a researcher at the NICM Health Research Institute at Western Sydney University. Dr. Galvão-Coelho spoke with this news organization about her team’s work. All volunteers underwent a full clinical mental health evaluation and medical history. Blood and saliva samples were collected at baseline, approximately 4 hours before the dosing session, and 2 days after the dosing session. During the dosing session, saliva samples were collected at 1 hour 40 minutes, 2 hours 40 minutes, and 4 hours after ayahuasca intake.
As for biomarkers, Dr. Galvão-Coelho said that there is a long history of research on cortisol with respect to patients with depressive symptoms, given the link between chronic stress and depressive disorders. “In our patients with treatment-resistant depression, we found that before being dosed with ayahuasca, they presented hypocortisolemia,” she said. She noted that low levels of cortisol are as harmful to one’s health as high levels.
Considering all the previous findings, the team wondered whether acute parameters recorded during an ayahuasca dosing session could in some way modulate the responses of certain key MDD molecular biomarkers. They then conducted their study that was published last December.
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