Another historical milestone is the discovery of DMT in plants frequently used by Amazonian natives as additive to the vine Banisteriopsis caapi to make ayahuasca decoctions. In 1957, American chemists Francis Hochstein and Anita Paradies identified DMT in an aqueous extract of leaves of a plant they named Prestonia amazonicum (sic) and described as commonly mixed with B. caapi.[18] The lack of a proper botanical identification of Prestonia amazonica in this study led American ethnobotanist Richard Evans Schultes (1915–2001) and other scientists to raise serious doubts about the claimed plant identity.[19][20] A better evidence is produced in 1965 by French pharmacologist Jacques Poisson who isolated DMT as sole alkaloid from leaves, provided and used by Aguaruna Indians, identified as pertaining to the vine Diplopterys cabrerana (then known as Banisteriopsis rusbyana).[20] Published in 1970, the first identification of DMT in the other commonly used additive[clarification needed] plant Psychotria viridis[12] was made by a team of American researchers led by pharmacologist Ara der Marderosian.[21] Not only did they detect DMT in leaves of P. viridis obtained from Cashinahua Indians, but they also were the first to identify it in a sample of an ayahuasca decoction, prepared by the same Indians.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:19:51 +0000
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