While researching N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and the sigma-1 receptor I came across a very informative and well written piece of research titled " The Hallucinogen N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) Is an Endogenous Sigma-1 Receptor Regulator" the authors listed are: Dominique Fontanilla, Molly Johannessen, Abdol R. Hajipour, Nicholas V. Cozzi, Meyer B. Jackson, and Arnold E. Ruoho.
I thought that I should share some small pieces that I found particularly interesting (for the whole article just run the title through a search engine it should be fairly easy to locate)
N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a hallucinogen found endogenously in human brain that is commonly recognized to target the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor or the trace amine-associated receptor to exert its psychedelic effect. DMT has been recently shown to bind sigma-1 receptors, which are ligand-regulated molecular chaperones whose function includes inhibiting various voltage-sensitive ion channels. Thus, it is possible that the psychedelic action of DMT might be mediated in part through sigma-1 receptors. ...[Su TP et al; Sci Signal 2 (61): pe12 (2009)] Full text: PMC3155724
..... ... The sigma-1 receptor pharmacophore includes an alkylamine core, also found in the endogenous compound N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT). DMT acts as a hallucinogen, but its receptor target has been unclear. DMT bound to sigma-1 receptors and inhibited voltage-gated sodium ion (Na+) channels in both native cardiac myocytes and heterologous cells that express sigma-1 receptors. ... DMT induced hypermobility in wild-type mice but not in sigma-1 receptor knockout mice. These biochemical, physiological, and behavioral experiments indicate that DMT is an endogenous agonist for the sigma-1 receptor ......
Fascinating stuff, though ive only just begun to do any in depth research on the topic. I would love to hear anyone else's thoughts or ideas on the subject, or if anybody can direct me towards any good sources of information regaurding N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and the sigma-1 receptor it would be much appreciated.
Thank you.