The way I see it is that these molecular formations (dmt included) may be general to the galaxy and the many different planets in it and so you get some lifeforms that have trace amounts and some lifeforms that use it like we use dopamine.

Who knows, somewhere in andromeda there might be shady people harvesting dopamine from trees

But seriously, there is no coincidence this thing grows in bark and can suddenly transport the only intelligent creature on earth to another dimension... Only narrow minded scientists & atheists think things like this are coincidences, the sort that would rather say that the whole universe is unintelligent if they thought they could get away with it!

There is some good info about the supposed uses for DMT in the body here:

What does DMT do in the body?

check Alisoka's post in this thread Endogenous DMT: Facts and Fiction

Neuroscience student here, with my 2c.

Firstly though: if you're going to talk about receptors involved with ingestion of DMT, you shouldn't pass over the 5-HT2A, which is implicated in a lot of the visionary effects. Sigma-1 is interesting, but there is still a LOT of work to be done on the 5-HT2AR.

Most of what you're saying is generally accepted: MAOI breaks down endogenous neurotransmitters such as 5-HT, DA, and NorEpi, although it has roles elsewhere in the body, helping protect us from environmental toxins such as tyramine (which is why you need to go on a special diet if you're consuming MAOIs).

It's pretty clear that MAO's affinity for DMT is related to DMT's structural similarity to 5-HT, although I don't think it makes sense to say that the body "wants" to break down one or other. Evolution makes use of what it has. If DMT does have a functional role in the body/brain, I'm sure it does exactly what it needs to, even with the MAO activity.

The role of endogenous DMT is unclear, and I'm honestly not convinced that it has any particularly profound purpose in the brain: it may be essentially a sort of biochemical white-noise, resulting from random interactions of enzymes and substrates. It might, but I'd like to see more evidence before I back any one interpretation.

Also:
Not all agonists of the s1R are SSRIs (opipramol and lamotrigine have s1R activity w/out appreciable affinity for the SERT), however, and it may be that the antidepressent activity of s1R agonists may not be associated with altering 5-HT function. None of this is set in stone, however.

Blessings
~ND

Endogenous DMT is being created and metabolized in the body at all times, granted in very small amounts. 1,2


It's true we don't really know exactly what the purpose of this compound is, in nature or in our bodies, but we do have a lot of clues. It appears to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunoregulatory effects in the human body as a Sigma 1 ligand. 3,4 It appears to play an anxiolytic role through activity at the Trace Amine receptors. 5 It also appears to display the properties of both a neurotransmitter and neuromodulator. 6,7 All this business about about soul gateways and whatnot is where things get tenuous. Large doses of exogenous dimethylated tryptamines certainly do provide subjective experiences that would lead one to conclude something like this is going on, but that's moving away from the hard data on the endogenous role of this compound and into the realm of correlation and speculation.


DMT is simply one of many different monoamine compounds utilized by the body. I don't view it as some kind of outlier, it's just a simple tryptophan derivative that appears to play a variety of roles in human metabolism alongside a variety other very similar compounds (Serotonin, Melatonin, Tryptamine, NMT, Bufotenine, 5-MEO-DMT, Beta-carbolines, etc...)

fathomlessness, dolphins and other cetaceans seem to have a brain capable or surpassing our cognitive abilities.

Its very interesting that it acts is a potential neuromodulator.
I have had the question on my mind for some time now, could it be a left over amine from our ancestors? That maybe used it as some sort of regulator of a simpler system, over time maybe it became less and less dominant due to evolutionary factors?
It could go part way to explaining why we share them with plants and that possibly we evolved to use them in different ways due to its multifunctionality.
Going much further into speculation regarding its profound effects it has on human conciousness its interesting to think it could have played a part in the development of conciousness. If conciousness is emergent could it have been a key factor in it emerging, if conciousness is non-local and permeates everything then could it interact with it in the way of frequency and oscillations to shift our perspective of where we are in space-time.

It's hard to say, really, it's certainly possible. It comes back to the question of whether DMT production is actually something that has been evolutionary selected for, or if it's just a byproduct of other physiological functions.

I'm not sure what the MAO enzyme looks like in much detail, but I imagine that DMT looks enough like 5-HT that they can bind to the same active site, which means that the affinity of MAO to DMT might be a coincidence.

Blessings
~ND

That's more like it, hardcore dmt speculation!

I like the idea that the molecular formations in 3d reality form part of a higher dimensional constitution as well as consciousness itself existing partly in a higher dimension. So when DMT molecule is released into brain, the DMT-molecule's higher dimensional equivalent is interacting with the consciousness's higher dimensional equivalents and then we are left with wondering where the higher dimension is. It is the higher dimensions I tell you...

Higher Dimensions!!!



I just can't accept that a neuromodulater like DMT is responsible for producing the same effects in all brains via 3 dimensional matter alone. Neurologists can't even explain the phenomena of how neurons produce conscious experience nor can they explain how DMT transports conscious experience to another realm consistently. Which leaves us to our nasty hardcore speculations.



Yes true, but they are not the ones being blasted in to other realms because of performing acid/base extractions on non-conscious organisms. Nor do they have artificial machines which compute at 33,860 trillion calculations per second compared to humans (max gamma 100 hz). If I wasn't so ingrained in to my belief systems (like so many people are) it would appear genuinely plausible to me that all of these inventions are alien in nature, perhaps that is what happens when lifeforms have some sort of use to extra-terrestrials... they come down and inhabit there forms and blend in disguise and teach and build complex machines all under the name of science It is a little strange though... 2 million years and only in the last 200 hundred years we are able to recreate primal forms of consciousness artificially with metals, silicone and electricity at speeds trillions of times faster than the brain, yep seems totally legit evolution...