Statistical analysis of electrophysiological signals from the human brain during the effects of ayahuasca

• Grant number: 14/07540-3
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• Start date: June 30, 2014
• End date: May 29, 2015
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Pharmacology - Neuropsychopharmacology
• Principal Investigator: Dartiu Xavier da Silveira
• Grantee: Eduardo Ekman Schenberg
• Supervisor: David John Nutt
• Host Institution: Escola Paulista de Medicina (EPM). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São Paulo. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Imperial College London, England
• Associated to the scholarship: 11/11341-8 - Evaluation of the electrophysiological alterations on healthy subjects EEG during the effect of ayahuasca, BP.PD

Abstract

Ayahuasca is a decoction prepared with P. viridis and B. caapi, containing N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), harmine, tetrahydroharmine and harmaline. It's currently used by Brazilian communities, mainly the Santo Daime and União do Vegetal (UDV) churches, that also have international branches. After ingestion, the brew elicits somatic, emotional and sensorial perceptual alterations.Our current investigation in Brazil (FAPESP processes 2011/11341-8 and 2012/07699-7) with healthy volunteers focuses on physiological measures with electroencephalography (EEG). The research also included collecting blood and saliva samples in 25 minute intervals in order to quantify the active principles and metabolites in blood and cortisol in saliva.The experiment was successfully completed and EEG data analysis is being conducted in the high-level technical computing environment Matlab with the aid of neuroscientific computational tools. The preliminary statistical analysis revealed a very promising result, with decreases in spectral power in delta, theta, alpha and beta bands, strongly after 50 minutes from ayahuasca ingestion; and increases in slow- and fast-gamma, strongly after 100 minutes from ingestion.This internship project intends to allow the post-doc to learn from a team doing state-of-the-art research in similar experiments with related substances, and therefore to perform the most rigorous and sophisticated analysis available so far. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

SCHENBERG, EDUARDO EKMAN; MOREL ALEXANDRE, JOAO FELIPE; FILEV, RENATO; CRAVO, ANDRE MASCIOLI; SATO, JOAO RICARDO; MUTHUKUMARASWAMY, SURESH D.; YONAMINE, MAURICIO; WAGUESPACK, MARIAN; LOMNICKA, IZABELA; BARKER, STEVEN A.; et al. Acute Biphasic Effects of Ayahuasca. PLoS One, v. 10, n. 9, SEP 30 2015. (11/11341-8, 14/07540-3, 12/07699-7)