I'm writing this experiment here, even though this is supposed to be a question-only subforum, because I'm only able to post to the NURSERY. It should be moved to the Cacti section if possible.

Abstract:
Dopamine has been reported to be a precursor of mescaline. Tyrosine breaks down to become tyramine and dopa. These then recombine to form dopamine which is converted to nor-mescaline and finally to mescaline.[1] It has been hypothesized that this method does not work.[2] How do dopamine injections affect the production of mescaline in a cactus? How do injections themselves affect the cactus physically?

Materials:
* 200mg dopamine HCl ampoule.
* 10ml syringe.
* 1ml insulin syringe.
* Sterilized water.
* T. Cuzcoensis, identified here: https://dmt-nexus.me/for...px?g=posts&m=118086.

Experiment:
The reason why a T. Cuzcoensis was used was to perform an experiment on a less valued specimen (not a T. Pachanoi). If there's no tissue damage and everything goes well, there may be another experiment with a T. Pachanoi.

Filtered tap water was boiled and left to cool as sterilization. Enough of that water was used to dilute the 200mg dopamine HCl ampoule to 0.045M. The resulting solution was stored in a clean container. The 10ml syringe was unable to inject the solution into the cactus, no matter how hard the plunger was pressed. The 1ml worked just fine. Several 0.5ml or 1ml injections (depending on where it was applied) were applied right under the skin and 4cm apart. The injection was done slowly to minimize the amount of solution wasted and to avoid creating a blister. The noodle was kept afterwards in its place for several seconds to prevent the solution from leaking.

It was possible to see how the water ran under the skin of the cactus coloring it with a darker green. The water spread at a speed of ~2mm/s and slowed as it moved away. Despite the efforts to inject slowly, a large fraction of the solution was lost and ended up on the soil. It's not believed that the roots will absorb dopamine.

A week after, several yellow/orange spots were seen just where the injections were applied:




On a horizontal section one can appreciate how deep the tissue was affected:




The cactus had to be cut to prevent further infection/damage. It was left to heal and stored. It is obvious that there was, indeed, tissue damage. It is interesting how only the white part was affected (see 3rd image), and not the green part. It is not known if the damage seen on the 4th image was caused by an infection or if it's just necrotized tissue.

Conclusion:
Tissue damage is evident. It developed from nothing to what was depicted, in just 7 days. It is still not known how dopamine affected the concentration of mescaline in the cactus, nor how the cactus responded biologically to the sudden rise of dopamine concentration. A chemical extraction could be carried on in the future to determine the concentration of alkaloids (for educational and scientific purpose). It is thought that Crystalito was right when he said that the solution may not enter the vascular system.

References:
[1] http://www.erowid.org/pl..._cactus_guide.shtml#SEC8
[2] https://www.dmt-nexus.me....aspx?g=posts&t=9304

I hope this helps some...

source: Peyote and other Psychoactive Cactii

That is the experiment I wanted to reproduce. The main problem is reproducing the way Rosenberg reported to inject the solution: it's nearly impossible to apply an injection in the center of the cactus. The plunge just doesn't move. That's why I proceeded to slowly inject into the surface of the cactus. That was the only possible part.

A couple of suggestion. One. expose the cacti to hot temps, high 90f , without watering for an extending period or maybe submerging it in the same temp, high 90s, water. This may cause limpness to inject into the center.

Second, use grafting wax to cover the holes to reduce exposure.

bump this into cacti please

no

Do you have any evidence to support this claim?

I asked this question a few years ago. Apparently its silly.

Just grow your cacti nice, healthy and big.

Size is the only guarantee for more goods

Apologies, but I fail to see the connection between singing/praying to a plant to increase the "psychoactive power" and quantum physics. Could you explain it a bit more for those of us not versed in quantum physics?

They said quite plainly that they "would think" this..that means they just personally think this..not that they are saying it is some kind of factual truth, so I dont understand why they would be expected to support the claim with evidence.

I doubt anyone is going to come up with any evidence either to support that claim. I bet if you go ask an andean currandero though or a huichol currandero they might say something similar.

Even though people only state that 'they think' it will help, they should explain why they think it would help. Else we might get another unsubstantiated claim that will bring unwanted noise to our knowledge base. Also, it might help understanding what a person actually means.

A good way to explain this would be that focusing your thoughts on the plants will be of help when you will make the journey with that plant. So it is not likely to increase the yield but it might help for a good mindset for your journey, and that is in many cases enough to potentiate it.


Kind regards,

The Traveler

he said pray.
i'd like to be guided to the "truth", tell me the quantum physics basis behind prayer,
and how it trumps thermodynamics. perhaps it's the power of placebo, you may be able to fool
your own mind, but not others

there's certainly no shortage of metaphysical pseudoscience and opinions, but there is a
shortage of reproducible evidence.

I think it was Adam Gottlieb who proposed the dopamine supplementation; the
issue may be a couple things ..getting the right concentration that would not overload the enzymes,
and delivering the substrate into the intracellular membranes. it's also been speculated that a polar aprotic solvent
could do just that

Cuzcoenais might be a poor choice, it could potentially metabolize mescaline or dopamine into some other alkaloid, like a tyramine variation, better to attempt to use a confirmed active plant.


FYI, the most bitter plants I have ever tasted were stored in a dark place for half a year or more, they were to taste much much more bitter than the same clone harvested fresh.

the issue with a double blind study is discerning the placebo from an actual external variable that affects results, thus at least one known control should be implemented.

Have you considered IO injection into the bone of the cactus?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uU7l6y92kgo
*Very cool x-ray footage of the injected liquid spreading through the bone in the last 30 seconds.

Pretty hardcore, I couldn't imagine what injecting dmt into your bones would be like. Military uses them to inject adrenaline into their sternums.

Good luck with your experiments. I've thought of using amphetamines on acacia's, haha.

I think this is right, particularly regarding the concentration of the dopamine solution, as dopamine is rather irritant/caustic.Its used in humans to support blood pressure and renal perfusion in patients whose BP is less than 80mmHg for whatever reason (cardiac failiure, septic shock etc) and must be administered via a central line ie a venous catheter inserted into the internal jugular vein.Infusing it via a smaller peripheral vein runs the risk of marked tissue necrosis should it extravaste into the peripheral tissues.


Icon, that IO device looks great- a definite improvement on the traditional intra-osseous needle.