Metabolism and urinary disposition of DMT - new study

[Bancopuma]

Fresh off the press, maybe someone who isn't me would be decent enough to attach a copy of the paper if they have access to it and if it exists in that form yet?


Riba, J., McIlhenny, E. H., Bouso, J. C. and Barker, S. A. (2014) Metabolism and urinary disposition of N,N-dimethyltryptamine after oral and smoked administration: a comparative study. Drug Testing and Analysis.

Abstract

N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a widely distributed plant alkaloid that displays partial agonist activity at the 5-HT2A receptor and induces intense psychedelic effects in humans when administered parenterally. However, self-administration studies have reported a total lack of activity following oral intake. This is thought to be due to extensive degradation by monoamine oxidase (MAO). Despite increased use of DMT and DMT-containing preparations, such as the plant tea ayahuasca, the biotransformation of DMT in humans when administered alone is relatively unknown. Here we used high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)/electrospray ionization (ESI)/selected reaction monitoring (SRM)/tandem mass spectrometry (MS/MS) to characterize the metabolism and disposition of oral and smoked DMT. Twenty-four-hour urine samples were obtained from 6 DMT users before and after intake of 25 mg DMT doses on two separate sessions. In one session, DMT was taken orally and in another it was smoked. After oral ingestion, no psychotropic effects were experienced and no DMT was recovered in urine. MAO-dependent indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) represented 97% of the recovered compounds, whereas DMT-N-oxide (DMT-NO) accounted for only 3%. When the smoked route was used, the drug was fully psychoactive, unmetabolized DMT and DMT-NO rose to 10% and 28%, respectively, and IAA levels dropped to 63%. An inverse correlation was found between the IAA/DMT-NO ratio and subjective effects scores. These findings show that in the smoked route a shift from the highly efficient MAO-dependent to the less efficient CYP-dependent metabolism takes place. This shift leads to psychoactivity and is analogous to that observed in ayahuasca preparations combining DMT with MAO inhibitors.


From:

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/dta.1685/abstract;jsessionid=C2A1146DDB748D5C533417A636DEA0A5.f03t03?systemMessage=Wiley+Online+Library+will+be+disrupted+9th+Aug+from+10-2+BST+for+essential+maintenance.+Pay+Per+View+will+be+unavailable+from+10-6+BST.&userIsAuthenticated=false&deniedAccessCustomisedMessage

 

[cave paintings]

Here you are:

 

[Endurance]

Thanks for posting Bancopuma and for the upload cave paintings. After my initial reading there were some parts of the paper that stood out.

Being somewhat of a hot-topic as of late (see the article "Criminals and Researchers: Perspectives on the Necessity of Underground Research", published in issue 2 of The Nexian, as well as other relevant threads on the forum), I think this article provides a good platform for discussion of issues surrounding research: both sanctioned and "underground".

Article: Riba, J., Mcllhenny, E.H., Bouso, J.C. & Barker, S.A. 2014. Metabolism and urinary disposition of N, N‐dimethyltryptamine after oral and smoked administration: a comparative study. Drug Testing and Analysis.DOI: 10.1002/dta.1685 (published online)

Comments: (*Discussed below are only a few select points, it is hoped that this discussion will flesh them out as well as generate further points of interest)

Materials and Methods

• 6 volunteers (3 male & 3 female) participated in the comparative study. "They indicated that their involvement with psychedelics reflected an intellectual interest into modified states of awareness, and regarded themselves as recreational users or ‘psychonauts’." For me personally, the attitude of the participants that is implicit in the statement reflects a view that is encouraged here at the nexus; inquiry through critical thinking and informed decision making. This, for me, justifies that emphasis that is placed on that Attitude section here at the nexus.

• "According to the participants, DMT had been extracted using published methods that involved soaking the ground bark in water and lye, extracting the free base with naphtha and recrystalizing the extract.". I find this interesting, especially in the context of an academic article. The details of the extraction described are not in great depth, even if it is considered as periphery information. Further more, the wording somewhat implies that the participants were involved or informed by the extractor of the substance. I'm not sure if any issues of legality were infringed upon here, although the article does state that the procedures that were carried out were n accordance with the protocol declared by the WMA. This issue could potentially be discussed further. From the quote, if one assumes that the participants were involved/or the substance was extracted out-side of a controlled laboratory context, the work of the nexus (all-inclusive; Trav, mods, senior members, contributors, new members) should be considered as significant.

Above are only brief comments that arose after my initial reading, it is hoped that others will comment and exercise critical thinking to discuss the article.

 

[endlessness]

My questions are: How do they know the DMT N-Oxide they detected in the metabolism of smoked DMT was not formed during the combustion process? They did not use a vaporizing method, they used a combustion method with conduction, heating the glass bong. They did not analyse the vapor/smoke coming out of the smoking apparatus it seems.

Another thing I wondered about was about their analysis. They mentioned this is what they found in the DMT extracted with naphtha:

The 30mg dose was the normal amount they usually used when smoking DMT. Subsequent
analysis of a sample showed a purity of 84.6%. Thus, the actual dose taken on each session was 25.4 mg. Additional components were identified as DMT-NO (1.4%), various fatty acids
and hydrocarbons of moderate molecular weights (8.2%). The remaining 6% of its composition was unidentified.

I wonder if this is an average of the products that all participants had, or if only one of them extracted it and everybody used from the same batch or what. That N-Oxide presence is interesting, so far seems to be the only analysis showing n-oxide in extracted DMT from Mimosa, specially recrystallized one. I`m gonna try to contact the authors and ask if they have the mass spectra, see if we can shed some light on the 6% unknowns.