Interesting timing you sharing this (thanks for that), I just got an email off Ede Frecska concerning a new paper on DMT that has just been submitted for review.
Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) has protective effects under hypoxia in human primary iPSC-derived cortical neurons and microglia-like immune cells via the sigma-1 receptor.
Szabo, A., Kovacs, A., Riba, J., Rajnavolgyi, E. & Frecska, E.
Abstract
The sigma-1 receptor (Sig-1R) is an intracellular chaperon fulfilling an interface role between the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and mitochondria. It ensures the correct transmission of ER stress into the nucleus resulting in the enhanced production of antistress and antioxidant proteins. Due to this function the activation of Sig-1R can mitigate the outcome of hypoxia or oxidative stress. In this paper we aimed to test the hypothesis that Sig-1R activation by its endogenous ligand dimethyltryptamine (DMT) can diminish hypoxic stress in in vitro cultured human cortical neurons (derived from induced pluripotent stem cells), monocyte-derived macrophages, and dendritic cells. Here we report for the first time that the endogenous tryptamine DMT can robustly increase the survival of these cell types in severe hypoxia (0.5% O2) through the Sig-1R. Furthermore, this phenomenon is associated with the decreased expression and function of the alpha subunit of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF-1) suggesting that DMT-mediated Sig-1R activation may alleviate hypoxia-induced cellular stress and increase survival in a HIF-1-independent manner. Our results reveal a novel and important role of DMT in human cellular physiology as well as point to the relevance of the therapeutic modulation of DMT-Sig-1R signaling in hypoxic/ischemic clinical pathologies, such as stroke, myocardial infarct or similar arterial occlusive disorders, cardiac arrest, and perinatal asphyxia.