The alkaloids of Banisteriopsis caapi, the plant source of the Amazonian hallucinogen Ayahuasca, stimulate adult neurogenesis in vitro

Jose A. Morales-García, Mario de la Fuente Revenga, Sandra Alonso-Gil, María Isabel Rodríguez-Franco, Amanda Feilding, Ana Perez-Castillo, Jordi Riba

Abstract

Banisteriopsis caapi is the basic ingredient of ayahuasca, a psychotropic plant tea used in the Amazon for ritual and medicinal purposes, and by interested individuals worldwide. Animal studies and recent clinical research suggests that B. caapi preparations show antidepressant activity, a therapeutic effect that has been linked to hippocampal neurogenesis. Here we report that harmine, tetrahydroharmine and harmaline, the three main alkaloids present in B. caapi, and the harmine metabolite harmol, stimulate adult neurogenesis in vitro. In neurospheres prepared from progenitor cells obtained from the subventricular and the subgranular zones of adult mice brains, all compounds stimulated neural stem cell proliferation, migration, and differentiation into adult neurons. These findings suggest that modulation of brain plasticity could be a major contribution to the antidepressant effects of ayahuasca. They also expand the potential application of B. caapi alkaloids to other brain disorders that may benefit from stimulation of endogenous neural precursor niches.

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Cannabis, Psilocybin and Curcumin(Turmeric) are also found to create neurogenesis.

As well as exercise, apigenin and pyrroloquinoline quinone.

The difference with this is that its something you can take several times a day every day for a month or more without being worthless [could you really imagine a bus driver or electrician taking psilocybin twice a day for four months while working?], its something that readily enters the brain after taking orally [unlike curcumin and apigenin], it was found to work in realistic, and even easily achieved, serum concentrations.
Not only did it trigger stem cell differentiation, it also triggered stem cell replication and migration- it did all 3 of the critical parts.
And THH was as good as harmine, which is a good thing because you could take the pill twice a day instead of like 5 times due to THH's much longer halflife [~11 hrs] and MRT [~28 hrs] not to mention that THH likely has less drug interaction hazard.

Its also legal in nearly all places outside of australia.
The down side is its dirt cheap, so no pharmaceutical company will do clinical trials.