Chemical Composition of Traditional and Analog Ayahuasca

ABSTRACT

Traditional ayahuasca can be defined as a brew made from Amazonian vine Banisteriopsis caapi and Amazonian admixture plants. Ayahuasca is used by indigenous groups in Amazonia, as a sacrament in syncretic Brazilian religions, and in healing and spiritual ceremonies internationally. The study aimed to determine concentrations of the main bio- and psychoactive components of ayahuasca used in different locations and traditions. We collected 102 samples of brews from ayahuasca-using communities. Concentrations of N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), tetrahydroharmine, harmine, and harmaline were determined by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Qualitative analyses for non-traditional additives (moclobemide, psilocin, yuremamine) were performed by high resolution mass spectrometry. Higher and more variable concentrations of DMT in neoshamanic ayahuasca samples compared to indigenous samples may indicate use of higher and more variable proportions of DMT-containing admixture plants. From European samples, we found two related samples of analog ayahuasca containing moclobemide, psilocin, DMT, yuremamine, and very low concentrations of B. caapi alkaloids. Some analogs of ayahuasca (Peganum harmala, Mimosa tenuiflora) were used in Europe. No analogs were found from Brazil or Santo Daime ceremonies in Europe. We recommend awareness about the constituents of the brew and ethical self-regulation among practitioners of ayahuasca ceremonies.

KEYWORDS:

• Ayahuasca
• Daime
• DMT
• harmaline
• harmine
• tetrahydroharmine

Acknowledgments

Study mobility for Helle Kaasik was supported by the European Regional Development Fund (project Dora Plus activities 1.1 and 1.2), Foundation Archimedes and CWT Estonia (Kaleva Travel). Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo - FAPESP (grant number 2018/01525-3) and INCT of Bioanalytics (grant numbers FAPESP 2014/50867-3 and CNPq 465389/2014-7) are acknowledged for financial support. We thank Donizete P. Freitas for the validation of the analytical method. Helle Kaasik thanks the Santo Daime Church for help and guidance and Jeremy Narby for fruitful discussions. We are deeply thankful to the communities and people who supported the research and donated the samples.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

The supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Estonian Research Council [PRG347]; European Commission via the European Regional Development Fund [Dora Plus 1.1 and 1.2, University of Tartu ASTRA Project PER ASPERA]; Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo [FAPESP 2014/50867-3, FAPESP 2018/01525-3]; Foundation Archimedes; CWT Estonia (Kaleva Travel); INCT of Bioanalytics [CNPq 465389/2014-7].