| Grant number: | 11/11341-8 |
| Support Opportunities: | Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral |
| Start date: | October 01, 2011 |
| End date: | September 01, 2015 |
| Field of knowledge: | Biological Sciences - Physiology - Physiology of Organs and Systems |
| Principal Investigator: | Dartiu Xavier da Silveira |
| Grantee: | Eduardo Ekman Schenberg |
| Host Institution: | Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil |
| Associated scholarship(s): | 14/07540-3 - Statistical analysis of electrophysiological signals from the human brain during the effects of ayahuasca, BE.EP.PD |
Abstract Ayahuasca (Santo Daime, Daime, Vegetal, Hoasca, Yagé or Yajé) is a tea made from amazonian plants (Psychotria viridis and Banisteriopsis caapi) containing dimethyltryptamine, or DMT (5HT-2A agonist and endogenous ligand of the sigma-1 receptor) containing also harmine and harmaline (among other MAO-A inhibitor molecules), presently used by diverse communities in Brazil and abroad. When ingested, the drink induces alterations in somatic, emotional and sensory perception, and also affects a range of cognitive processes. There are only three studies published in indexed journals about the neurofunctional alterations underlying the effects of ayahuasca employing the electroencephalogram (EEG). One was realized with only two subjects, another with limitations imposed by the sampling frequency and EEG filtering, and the third using different doses between the subjects evaluated. Collectively, ayahuasca seems to exert an effect of diminishing the power of a diverse range of cerebral oscillatory frequencies, such as theta and alfa, some effect of increasing beta and intriguing effects of increasing power and/or coherence on the gamma frequency band. The present study aims to investigate the effects of ayahuasca on the EEG without sensory stimulation, using an adequate number of subjects, appropriate sampling frequency and filtering and employing a placebo condition. Participants will be evaluated before and after the acute effects of the tea with EEG recording. Changes in power and coherence will be evaluated with robust techniques of non-parametric cluster analysis , in various frequency bands. Subjects will also be evaluated with diverse psychological scales to measure the subjective alterations to the psychological effects of the tea. | |
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