Hello fellow "psychonauts" and nerds alike, hell even the few "normies" out there reading this.
Before I go any further I would like to say "thank you" for this amazing community providing such an accessible wealth of knowledge. SWIM said "Whilst learning the art of clandestine chemistry this wealth of information and even innovation has been one of my primary sources." And for that, I present you, your well deserved appreciation: "Thank you!"
Okay, jokes aside. So I have been experimenting with psychedelics (tryptamines specifically) for some time now, and since the beginning its been noted there is something to be said about these substances and their affinity with the monoaminergic systems.
The monoaminergic systems are a complex series of systems associated with a variety of different monoamines. First we have the "Classical Monoamines" and then we also have the "Trace amines" for the sake of simplicity and to keep this short, I'm only going to be able to refer to the "Classical Monoamines" which are made up of three groups of amines:
The Imidazoleamines,
The Catecholamines,
and personally my favorite The Indolamines (Tryptamines)As many of you may know, the neurotransmitter Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine) is closely related to these tryptamines from which we use to explore what some describe as the "astral realms of existence" or even "interdimensional space travel" if you will. Once experiencing this incredible phenomenon first hand it has incisively intrigued me, to the point where obsession has kicked in and driven a world of research all of which has just led me to more questions...
With serotonin aside, I would love to briefly touch up on the topic of MAOIs (Monoamine Oxidase Inhibitors), to be more specific RIMAs (Reversible inhibitors of monoamine oxidase-A).
"Monoamine oxidases (MAO) are a family of enzymes that catalyze the oxidation of monoamines", essentially they play a major role in the monoaminergic systems, responsible for the catabolism and the inhibition of specific monoamines.
Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) is responsible for the breakdown of three major neurotransmitters: serotonin (an indoleamine), norepinephrine(a catecholamine), and dopamine (a catecholamine).
In a healthy brain after a neurotransmitter binds to its relative neuro receptor it gets catabolized by this enzyme so it can't rebind, MAOIs prevent this from occurring and basically saturate the binding sites with monoamines.
Just recently I got my hands on some Peganum harmala. I'm sure many of you know the "RIMA" properties of Syrian rue, as both Harmine and Harmaline act as "reversible monoamine oxidase-A inhibitors." This is why beta-carbolines have been used for millennia along side a "DMT containing plant" to yield the traditional entheogen "ayahuasca."
I have yet to have a successful experience upon mixing these two substances, however with about 8 grams of Syrian rue in the form of a tea I've had what I would concur as a full blown "trip." One could say they truly feel the power of thy monoaminergic systems under the influence of a true "psychedelic" dose of an MAOI, I would say that the synergistic pounding like feeling of spinning occurring inside ones head on such a dose is a direct result of the stimulation on the monoaminergic pathways, in turn flooding one's "postsynaptic ionic channels" with an endless influx of ions... It's needless to say what this yields it's also impossible, all we can infer is what us as the user is experiencing. Sure there are a number of tests that doctors use to record the electrical signals of the brain (E.G. EEG, EEK, EKG, ECG, ETC - you get the point) the problem for us, psychonauts, is these machines are pretty expensive. I would love to posses the honor and one day be the one to conduct this sort of research opening the door of understanding for what our ancestors were on to with these sort of substances.
To sum it up pretty quickly:
These enzymes and neurotransmitters (monoamines to be specific) in conjunction with their respective receptors make up the complexity of the monoaminergic systems. With this system alone there's something to be said about the complexity of the human body as everything is part of a bigger system. This is the system I'm here to break.
Sorry guys if that was hard to keep up with, and sorry if my organization was god awful, I'll try to do better next time. For I've been writing this for a days and needed to get it done, so I hope you enjoyed this quick read, I will be posting more soon!