Rafael Guimarães
Universidade de São Paulo – Ribeirão Preto, Brasil.
Departamento de Neurociências e Ciências do Comportamento.
LECTURE: Ayahuasca, an Ancient Substance with Traditional and Contemporary use in Neuropsyquiatry and Neuroscience.
Ayahuasca is a botanical hallucinogenic preparation traditionally used by indigenous populations of Northwestern Amazonian countries for ritual and therapeutic purposes. It is rich in β-carboline alkaloids and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). Preclinical, observational, and experimental studies suggest that Ayahuasca and its alkaloids have anxiolytic and antidepressive effects.
Rafael Guimarães will show, among other studies, a recently report in an open-label trial that Ayahuasca administration was associated with significant decreases in depression symptoms for 2-3 weeks after the experimental session in 17 patients with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder.