Sea Sponge MAO-A Inhibition

[Woolmer]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13880209.2020.1790618

Among them, methylaplysinopsin (1, Figure 1) has shown potent
in vivo antidepressant activity, and was later shown to have
reversible inhibitory activity against MAO (Baird-Lambert et al.
1982). Detailed pharmacokinetic studies followed this study,
which showed the drug-like property of 1. Successive studies
developed synthetic analogs as MAOIs with improved IC50 values
down to 5 nM against MAO-A (Aoki et al. 2001; Segraves and
Crews 2005)

Species: Aplysynopsin sp.
Compounds: Aplysynopsins
MAO-A IC50: 0.0056uM
Synthetic Analogs MAO-A IC50: 0.035 uM

Found this interesting considering analogues of DMT have been found in sponges before.

I believe the reported potency is about half that of harmine for MAO-A inhibition? Seahuasca anyone?

 

[Shamanoboy]

Sea sponge dmt and sea extracted MAOI... Dude that sounds absolutely amazing... I imagine the trip would be filled with visions of oceanic alien sea creatures.. visions of Atlantis.. sea plants and water... Even if only inspired by your psyche I would bet that would be the case... but I firmly believe there is something far deeper to these things... I would be interested to see what visions someone who didn’t know it came from the sea would have... I wonder if they would report sea like aspects? Hmmm interesting concept...

:thumb_up:

I wonder if and when this sea sponge dmt could be obtained by people to try... If it would hurt the sea sponge to extract it? And how rare or common this specific species is?

 

[Hyper Turtle]

Sea sponges don't have a nervous system, so the classical definition of pain should not apply to them. However, same goes for plants, and while i don't know if they experience pain, they clearly can suffer / struggle to recover after damage.

Sponges can in principle survive quite a lot of damage.

Sponges have three asexual methods of reproduction: after fragmentation; by budding; and by producing gemmules. Fragments of sponges may be detached by currents or waves. They use the mobility of their pinacocytes and choanocytes and reshaping of the mesohyl to re-attach themselves to a suitable surface and then rebuild themselves as small but functional sponges over the course of several days. The same capabilities enable sponges that have been squeezed through a fine cloth to regenerate.[49] A sponge fragment can only regenerate if it contains both collencytes to produce mesohyl and archeocytes to produce all the other cell types.[39] A very few species reproduce by budding.[50]

Gemmules are "survival pods" which a few marine sponges and many freshwater species produce by the thousands when dying and which some, mainly freshwater species, regularly produce in autumn. Spongocytes make gemmules by wrapping shells of spongin, often reinforced with spicules, round clusters of archeocytes that are full of nutrients.[51] Freshwater gemmules may also include photosynthesizing symbionts.[52] The gemmules then become dormant, and in this state can survive cold, drying out, lack of oxygen and extreme variations in salinity.[26] Freshwater gemmules often do not revive until the temperature drops, stays cold for a few months and then reaches a near-"normal" level.[52] When a gemmule germinates, the archeocytes round the outside of the cluster transform into pinacocytes, a membrane over a pore in the shell bursts, the cluster of cells slowly emerges, and most of the remaining archeocytes transform into other cell types needed to make a functioning sponge. Gemmules from the same species but different individuals can join forces to form one sponge.[53] Some gemmules are retained within the parent sponge, and in spring it can be difficult to tell whether an old sponge has revived or been "recolonized" by its own gemmules.[52]

So if one were to extract from actual sponges, one should at least study that species' anatomy and make sure to leave parts in a state that they can grow back, as well as avoid harming the 'skeleton'. I feel like it should be done analogous to cacti, ie. leave the base plus plant the tip, extract from the material in between.

5-bromo-DMT can be (and has been) synthesized though, so that's probably the better option. You can even find videos of people vaping it on youtube.

 

[dithyramb]

Very interesting. Is there a marine source of DMT?

 

[Woolmer]

Is there a marine source of DMT?

No source has been found for N,N-dmt, but 5,6-dibromo-dmt and 5-bromo-dmt have been found in sea sponges. I would not be surprised if there is a source as alkaloids from marine organisms are probably very understudied compared to plants.

 

[Shamanoboy]

I wonder how prevalent, rare, or common this species is... Also what the method of extraction might be... :?
That would be awesome if the substance leaked out naturally, massaged out, or exited the sponge at times rather than forever stuck inside its body... Like Bufo for example... or the nectar of a sea cucumber...

It wouldn’t be worth it if the sea sponge had to be hurt or (as you say since they may not feel physical pain) have it’s life span shortened, or killed in the process... :!:

I suppose it may be a while before this type of info becomes disseminated but it’s worth a try...

 

[downwardsfromzero]

Is there a marine source of DMT?

No source has been found for N,N-dmt, but 5,6-dibromo-dmt and 5-bromo-dmt have been found in sea sponges. I would not be surprised if there is a source as alkaloids from marine organisms are probably very understudied compared to plants.

Perhaps due to the nature of the marine environment - with its high concentration of halide ions - marine invertebrates have an overwhelming tendency to halogenate their secondary metabolites. Another exapmle comes in the form of a brominated phenethylamine derivative from a marine tunicate, where the resemblance to 2C-B is quite uncanny.

It is a little odd how so many of the compounds are brominated and so few are chlorinated but there is likely to be a good reason for this. And, as regards the DMT, Shulgin noted that it would be possible to remove the bromine atoms from the bromo-derivatives by using catalytic dehydrogenation. I would suggest it's easier to get results from Phalaris or Phragmites, the latter of which does grow in brackish waters (the Baltic, for example) so that's arguably the candidate for your 'marine' (littoral) DMT. Just add sea buckthorn for your littoral huasca

 

[dithyramb]

5 bromo DMT is said to be only mildly psychedelic but with unique healing qualities. Perhaps in combination with the sea sponge maoi its psychedelic capacity would be enhanced.

Lake and sea are different environments with different energies/spirits. And Elaeagnus as far as I know does not properly inhibit mao a. I don't know if Hippophae would be different.