I see this old thread has been bumped.
I find it all rather fascinating, but I think perhaps people are making this too narrow. Some of my esteemed colleagues here will only be satisfied if DMT is
proven to be
produced in
human pineal glands.
My interest was always more about
how to produce tryptamines and beta carbolines endogenously. The metabolic pathways are somewhat academic when the goal is the ability to make it.
I am surprised none of the people here have jumped on the thread about Mantak Chia's take on
Endogenous DMT Production... as he lays out a clear theory on the pathways between Tryptophan, Melatonin, Pinoline, DMT and 5 MEO DMT, as well as detailed methods of stimulating this process (again the main deal in all of this, no?).
He speculates that all 4 major glands in the center of the head are involved... not just the pineal, but the pituitary, the thalamus and the hypothalamus. If he is correct, the over focus on the pineal is just getting in the way. And, even if it turns out that the body's tryptamines and beta-carbolines are made primarily in the lung or gut... who cares? The key is still getting them to the brain and using them to make endohuasca.
In the thread I linked to, there is a link to his free ebook. It is all of 50 or 60 pages of large text and lots of diagrams, so people can plow through it in no time... and the DMT talk begins right away on pg 2 and 3 and continues through most of the book.
So... anyone interested in discussing practical endohuasca production rather than just stake claims about minor points in what is already a moot issue (re: the human body
does produce DMT, 5 MEO DMT and Pinoline...
somewhere, and likely in many somewheres), please pop over and chime in.
Note: Even if you want to chime in just to ridicule Mantak and his neo-Taoist endohuasca woo... you are still heartily invited.
HF