Ibogaine - Science topic

Plants can generate structural diversity by enzymatic rearrangement of a central intermediate. 19E‐geissoschizine is one such chemically versatile intermediate that plays a central role in the biosynthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids such as strychnine, ibogaine, and vinblastine. Here we report how 19E‐geissoschizine undergoes oxidative transfo...

(First ever) Manual for Ibogaine Therapy Screening, Safety, Monitoring & Aftercare Second Revision by Howard S. Lotsof & Boaz Wachtel

The article covers the formative years (1988-1993) of the Ibogaine movement in the Netheralnds with Howard and Norma Lotsof, Bob Siski (Robert Rand) and Boaz Wachtel while working with the Professor Jan Bastiaans - a psychatrist know for his work with Holocust and Dutch resistance survivors with LSD and Psylocybin.

Ibogaine is the main psychoactive alkaloid produced by the iboga tree ( Tabernanthe iboga ) that has a unique therapeutic potential across multiple indications, including opioid dependence, substance use disorders, depression, anxiety, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and traumatic brain injury (TBI). We systematically examined the effects of...

The clinical importance of iboga alkaloids lies in their efficacy in reversing drug addiction and modulating drug tolerance. However, due to safety concerns, their use is restricted to appropriate medical supervision. These alkaloids often cause severe hallucinogenic effects due to differential binding to various brain receptors and cardiotoxicity...

Purpose of Review Despite national efforts to curb the opioid crisis, the clinical and societal challenges continue to grow. FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) are effective but are associated with high rates of treatment discontinuation and relapse. A collection of agents with acute effects on consciousness, collectively (if va...

Purpose of Review Substance use disorders (SUDs) and other addictive behaviors such as gambling disorder are globally prevalent and remain significant public health concerns. Since the 1950s, studies have examined psychedelics in the treatment of addictive behaviors with these studies demonstrating safety, feasibility, and potential therapeutic ben...

Anecdotal reports and preliminary clinical trials suggest that the psychoactive alkaloid ibogaine and its active metabolite noribogaine have powerful anti-addictive properties, producing long-lasting therapeutic effects across a range of substance use disorders and co-occurring neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression and post-traumatic stress...

Background and Objectives: Substance use disorders (SUDs) affect millions worldwide. Despite increasing drug use, treatment options remain limited. Psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT), integrating psychedelic substances with psychotherapy, offers a promising alternative by addressing underlying neural mechanisms. Materials and Methods: This review’s...

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease characterized by demyelination and neuronal loss. Traditional therapies often fail to halt disease progression or reverse neurological deficits. Ibogaine, a psychoactive alkaloid, has been proposed as a potential neuroregenerative agent due to its multifaceted pharmacological profi...

The author surveyed researchers about United States federal grant applications for therapeutic psychedelic research and their funding success. An anonymous survey was sent to corresponding authors of the 50 most-cited psychedelic research articles published after 2000 and also disseminated on Twitter. Ten researchers responded, reporting on 24 Nati...

The current opioid crisis has had an unprecedented public health impact. Approved medications for opioid use disorder (OUD) exist, yet their limitations indicate a need for innovative treatments. Limited preliminary clinical studies suggest specific psychedelics might aid OUD treatment, though most clinical evidence remains observational, with few...

Substance use disorders remain one of the most challenging health problems to address. Specifically, opioid dependence has caused serious public health issues in countries such as the United States and Canada over the last decade, underscoring the need for innovative and effective treatments. Recently, mental health researchers have shown a renewed...

Psychedelics have recently (re)emerged as therapeutics of high potential for multiple mental health conditions, including substance use disorders (SUDs). Despite early mid-20th century anecdotal reports and pilot studies demonstrating the possibility of these substances in efficaciously treating conditions such as alcohol and opioid use disorders,...

Interest in psychedelic research in the West is surging, however, clinical trials have almost exclusively studied synthetic compounds such as MDMA, ketamine, DMT, LSD, ibogaine, and psilocybin. To date, few clinical trials have utilized whole mushroom/plant material like Psilocybe mushrooms, Iboga, or Ayahuasca. Individuals participating in the Roo...

Plants can generate structural diversity by enzymatic rearrangement of a central intermediate. 19E-geisssochizine is one such chemically versatile intermediate that plays a central role in the biosynthesis of monoterpene indole alkaloids such as strychnine, ibogaine and vinblastine. Here we report how 19E-geissoschizine undergoes oxidative transfor...

Objective Recently, the United States (US) and several other countries have begun funding more research into therapeutic applications of psychedelics. However, little is known about the contents and funding success of federal grant applications proposing to study therapeutic applications of psychedelics in recent decades. This study aimed to survey...

Psychedelics have recently re‐emerged as potential treatments for various psychiatric conditions that impose major public health costs and for which current treatment options have limited efficacy. At the same time, personalized medicine is increasingly being implemented in psychiatry to provide individualized drug dosing recommendations based on g...

Ibogaine and its main metabolite noribogaine provide important molecular prototypes for markedly different treatment of substance use disorders and co-morbid mental health illnesses. However, these compounds present a cardiac safety risk and a highly complex molecular mechanism. We introduce a class of iboga alkaloids – termed oxa-iboga – defined a...

The iboga alkaloids are a family of monoterpene indole alkaloids first discovered from the root of Tabernanthe iboga. The major alkaloid constituent in the root, ibogaine, has garnered interest for its anti‐addictive properties. Ibogaine has been shown to reduce opiate, amphetamine, alcohol, and nicotine self‐administration in rodents. However, ibo...

Psychedelics are natural or synthetic compounds, some with long histories of religious and cultural practice, which can induce remarkable changes in the human consciousness. After decades of suppression, the use and research of psychedelics are witnessing a new renaissance. At our new psychedelics research and therapy center, we are studying if cer...

Ibogaine is a psychedelic alkaloid being investigated as a possible treatment for opioid use disorder. Ibogaine has a multi-receptor profile with affinities for mu and kappa opioid as well as NMDA receptors amongst others. Due to the sparsity of research into ibogaine's effects on white matter integrity and given the growing evidence that opioid us...

Mental health disorders and substance use disorders (SUDs) in particular, contribute greatly to the global burden of disease. Psychedelics, including entactogens and dissociative substances, are currently being explored for the treatment of SUDs, yet with less empirical clinical evidence than for other mental health disorders, such as depression or...

Gambling disorder is globally prevalent and remains a significant public health problem. Despite the individual and societal burden of gambling disorder, poor outcomes are often reported in available treatment studies. As a result, there is a need for continued research to establish more effective approaches for the treatment of gambling disorder....

Opioid dependence is a common problem, and therapeutic alternatives are scarce and ineffective. Ibogaine, illegal in several countries, has been reported as a possible therapy in alternative clinics and it is also used as a recreational drug, despite its cardiotoxic potential, including QT prolongation. We report a case of long QT leading to multip...

Ibogaine is an organic indole alkaloid that is used in alternative medicine to combat addiction. Numerous cases of life-threatening complications and sudden deaths associated with ibogaine use have been reported, and it has been hypothesized that the adverse effects are related to ibogaine’s tendency to induce cardiac arrhythmias. Considering that...

Background and aims Ibogaine, an alkaloid extracted from the root of the Tabernanthe Iboga shrub, holds promise in treating addictive disorders. Individuals receiving ibogaine treatment report decreased withdrawal symptoms, cravings, and addiction severity. These changes are often attributed to ibogaine's psychedelic properties: subjectively meanin...

Entheogens, a class of psychoactive substances with profound cultural and religious significance, have been utilized for centuries across diverse traditions for healing, spiritual exploration, and communication with the divine. Their historical usage spans continents, from the pre-Columbian Americas to traditional African practices and Ayurvedic me...

Objective Ibogaine is a hallucinogenic drug that may be used to treat opioid use disorder (OUD). The relationships between pharmacokinetics (PKs) of ibogaine and its metabolites and their clinical effects on side effects and opioid withdrawal severity are unknown. We aimed to study these relationships in patients with OUD undergoing detoxification...

Ibogaine is a potent atypical psychedelic that has gained considerable attention due to its antiaddictive and antidepressant properties in preclinical and clinical studies. Previous research from our group showed that ibogaine suppresses sleep and produces an altered wakefulness state, which resembles natural REM sleep. However, after systemic admi...

Background Psychedelic drugs have recently emerged as plausibly effective pharmacological agents for the management of depression, anxiety, and other neuropsychiatric conditions, including those that are treatment-resistent. The latter half of the 20th century marked a revolution in the treatment of mental illnesses, exemplified by the introduction...

Background Ibogaine is a plant-derived alkaloid that has been used for thousands of years in rites of passage and spiritual ceremonies in West-Central Africa. In the West, it has primarily been used and studied for its anti-addictive properties and more recently for other neuropsychiatric indications, including post-traumatic stress disorder, depre...

Introduction Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with significant patient burden. While pharmacotherapies and evidence-based psychotherapy interventions (EBPI) are effective, studies consistently highlight inadequate outcomes and high treatment dropout. Psychedelic therapy (PT) has shown preliminary promise across difficult-to-treat...

Ibogaine (IBO) is an atypical psychedelic with a complex mechanism of action. To date, the mechanisms that may underlie its anti-addictive effects are still not defined. This study aims to identify changes in gene expression induced by a single oral dose of IBO in the cortex of mice by means of a transcriptomic analysis for the first time. Our resu...

Noribogaine (noribo) is the primary metabolite from ibogaine, an atypical psychedelic alkaloid isolated from the root bark of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. The main objective of this study was to test the hypothesis that molecular, electrophysiological, and behavioral responses of noribo are mediated by the 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR) in mice....

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of disability. Sequelae can include functional impairments and psychiatric syndromes such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression and anxiety. Special Operations Forces (SOF) veterans (SOVs) may be at an elevated risk for these complications, leading some to seek underexplored treatment a...

Background: Ibogaine is a plant-derived alkaloid that has been used for thousands of years in rites of passage and spiritual ceremonies in West-Central Africa. In the West, it has primarily been used and studied for its anti-addictive properties and more recently for other neuropsychiatric indications, including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD...

Objective To determine the effects of the non-classic psychedelic, ibogaine, on cognitive functioning. Ibogaine is an indole alkaloid derived from the Tabernanthe Iboga plant family, indigenous to Africa, and traditionally used in spiritual and healing ceremonies. Ibogaine has primarily been studied with respect to its clinical efficacy in reducing...

Introduction: With the progressive advancement of clinical and experimental trials aimed at investigating the pharmacotherapeutic potential of psychedelic substances, there is also the development of other conceptions of use, not only for the treatment of psychiatric disorders, but also for the improvement of emotional/cognitive functions. Objectiv...

As the research field with psychedelic substances grows, it is expected to encompass a more extensive cohort of individuals presenting a spectrum of medical conditions, comorbidities, and unique physiological traits, thereby increasing the likelihood of potential adverse events. Furthermore, it is worth noting that there is a scarcity of the specia...

The first collection of its kind to explore the diverse and global history of psychedelics as they appealed to several generations of researchers and thinkers. Expanding Mindscapes offers a fascinatingly fluid and diverse history of psychedelics that stretches around the globe. While much of the literature to date has focused on the history of thes...

Background There is a growing interest in studying ibogaine (IBO) as a potential treatment for substance use disorders (SUDs). However, its clinical use has been hindered for mainly two reasons: First, the lack of randomized, controlled studies informing about its safety and efficacy. And second, IBO’s mechanisms of action remain obscure. It has be...

Psychedelics are natural or synthetic compounds, some with long histories of religious and cultural practice, which can induce remarkable changes in the human consciousness. After decades of suppression, the use and research of psychedelics are witnessing a new renaissance. At our new psychedelics research and therapy center, we are studying if cer...

Psychedelic therapies, involving plant-based substances like psilocybin, ibogaine, and ayahuasca, have gained considerable attention for their potential to facilitate transformative experiences and promote mental well-being. Specifically, these therapies are being explored for the treatment of various mental health conditions such as post-traumatic...

Psychedelic therapy (PT) is an emerging paradigm with great transdiagnostic potential for treating psychiatric disorders, including depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, and potentially others. ‘Classic’ serotonergic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), which have a key locus of action at the 5-HT2...

Commentary on the use of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT within retreat program settings.

Background: Research in psychedelic medicine has focused primarily on civilian populations. Further study is needed to understand whether these treatments are effective for Veteran populations.Objectives: Here, we examine the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy among trauma-exposed Special Operations Forces Veterans (SOFV) seeking treatme...

Does the brain optimize itself for storage and transmission of information and if so, how? The critical brain hypothesis is based in statistical physics and posits that the brain self-tunes its dynamics to a critical point or regime to maximize the repertoire of neuronal responses. Yet, the robustness of this regime, especially with respect to chan...

Autores Revisión página 10|Revista de Psiquiatría del Uruguay|Volumen 87 Nº 1 Agosto 2023| Ibogaína: un psicodélico atípico con potencial antiadictivo Rev Psiquiatr Urug. 2023;87(1):XX-XX | https://doi.org/ Resumen El trastorno por uso de sustancias es una enfermedad crónica de graves consecuencias. Actualmente, los tratamientos farmacológicos no a...

Brachial plexus nerve root avulsion results from complete separation of the nerve root from the spinal cord and is one of the most challenging types of neuropathic pain, coinciding with motor, sensory and autonomic deficits. The severe pain and typical impossibility of root reattachment often leads to requests for amputation. Ibogaine is an indole...

The United States is entering its fourth decade of the opioid epidemic with no clear end in sight. At the center of the epidemic is an increase in opioid use disorder (OUD), a complex condition encompassing physical addiction, psychological comorbidities, and socioeconomic and legal travails associated with the misuse and abuse of opioids. Existing...

Background The ability of psychedelic compounds to profoundly alter mental function has been long known, but the underlying changes in cellular-level information encoding remain poorly understood. Methods We used two-photon microscopy to record from the retrosplenial cortex in head-fixed mice running on a treadmill before and after injection of th...

Ibogaine is a potent atypical psychedelic that has gained considerable attention due to its antiaddictive and antidepressant properties in preclinical and clinical studies. Previous research from our group showed that ibogaine suppresses sleep and produces an altered wakefulness state which resembles natural REM sleep. However, after systemic admin...

Background: Research in psychedelic medicine has focused primarily on civilian populations. Further study is needed to understand whether these treatments are effective for Veteran populations. Objectives: Here we examine the effectiveness of psychedelic-assisted therapy among trauma-exposed Special Operations Forces Veterans (SOFV) seeking treatme...

Background Ketamine and psychedelics have abuse liability. They can also induce “transformative experiences” where individuals experience enhanced states of awareness. This enhanced awareness can lead to changes in preexisting behavioral patterns which could be beneficial in the treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). Preclinical and clinical...

The serotonin transporter (SERT) removes synaptic serotonin and is the target of anti-depressant drugs. SERT adopts three conformations: outward-open, occluded, and inward-open. All known inhibitors target the outward-open state except ibogaine, which has unusual anti-depressant and substance-withdrawal effects, and stabilizes the inward-open confo...

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fphar.2022.927984.].

Ibogaine is a psychoactive alkaloid derived from the west-African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. Western cultures are increasing the interest for the substance due to its claimed anti addictive properties, although the evidence supporting this effect is still preliminary. The use of ibogaine often occurs with no medical supervision in uncontrolled settin...

Renewed interest in psychedelic substances in the 21st century has seen the exploration of psychedelic treatments for various psychiatric disorders including substance use disorder (SUD). This review aimed to assess the effectiveness of psychedelic treatments for people with SUD and those falling below diagnostic thresholds (i.e. substance misuse)....

This study evaluated prospective associations of ibogaine and 5-MeO-DMT treatment for risky alcohol use and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms among United States (US) Special Operations Forces Veterans (SOFV). Data were collected during standard clinical operations at pre-treatment and 1-month (1 m), 3-months (3 m), and 6-months (6 m)...

The serotonin transporter (SERT/SLC6A4) is arguably the most extensively studied solute carrier (SLC). During its eponymous action - i.e., the retrieval of serotonin from the extracellular space - SERT undergoes a conformational cycle. Typical inhibitors (antidepressant drugs and cocaine), partial and full substrates (amphetamines and their derivat...

The need to identify effective therapies for the treatment of psychiatric disorders is a particularly important issue in modern societies. In addition, difficulties in finding new drugs have led pharmacologists to review and re-evaluate some past molecules, including psychedelics. For several years there has been growing interest among psychotherap...

Background: Past research reports a positive relationship between experience with classic serotonergic psychedelics and nature relatedness (NR). However, these studies typically do not distinguish between different psychedelic compounds, which have a unique psychopharmacology and may be used in specific contexts and with different intentions. Like...

Abstract Background: Past research reports a positive relationship between experience with classic serotonergic psychedelics and nature relatedness (NR). However, these studies typically do not distinguish between different psychedelic compounds, which have a unique psychopharmacology and may be used in specific contexts and with different intent...

Existing treatments for substance use disorders (SUDs) have several limitations(1). New paradigms must be explored to address the growing challenge of adequately treating SUDs. One such innovation is psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP) which describes the clinically supervised use of ketamine, MDMA, psilocybin, LSD, ayahuasca, and ibogaine con...

Nature uses cycloaddition reactions to generate complex natural product scaffolds. Dehydrosecodine is a highly reactive biosynthetic intermediate that undergoes cycloaddition to generate several alkaloid scaffolds that are the precursors to pharmacologically important compounds such as vinblastine and ibogaine. Here we report how dehydrosecodine ca...

Nature uses cycloaddition reactions to generate complex natural product scaffolds. Dehydrosecodine is a highly reactive biosynthetic intermediate that undergoes cycloaddition to generate several alkaloid scaffolds that are the precursors to pharmacologically important compounds such as vinblastine and ibogaine. Here we report how dehydrosecodine ca...

Objective To evaluate the publications on ibogaine use for substance-related disorders treatment over the last three decades. Method Bibliometric analysis of publications on ibogaine for the treatment of substance-related disorders from 1991 to 2020 using VOSviewer software. We performed a Scopus database search using the terms: ibogaine, 12-metho...

Simultaneous determination of thirteen plant alkaloids in a human specimen by SPE and HPLC A new screening method for the simultaneous determination of thirteen plant alka-loids (aconitine, anabasine, atropine, brucine, colchicine, cotinine, cytisine, har-mine, ibogaine, nicotine, scopolamine, strychnine, yohimbine) in a human specimen was develope...

The serotonin transporter (SERT/SLC6A4) is arguably the most extensively studied solute carrier (SLC). During its eponymous action - i.e., the retrieval of serotonin from the extracellular space - SERT undergoes a conformational cycle. Typical inhibitors (antidepressant drugs and cocaine), partial and full substrates (amphetamines and their derivat...

No Abstract.

Plants of Tabernaemontana species have several pharmacological activities including antimicrobial effects. Amoebiasis continues to be a public health problem with increasing evidence of resistance to metronidazole. In this study we assessed the effect of the alkaloid fraction of T. arborea root bark and its alkaloids ibogaine and voacangine on the...

Classical psychedelics represent a family of psychoactive substances with structural similarities to serotonin and affinity for serotonin receptors. A growing number of studies have found that psychedelics can be effective in treating various psychiatric conditions, including post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, anxiety, and s...

During the 1950’s and 1960’s, psychedelic drugs (e.g., LSD, mescaline, psilocybin, ayahuasca, ibogaine) were studied as potential treatments for addiction. However, this research halted abruptly in the 1970’s with the enactment of the Controlled Substances Act. In recent years, policy changes, destigmatization of drug use, and interest in alternati...

Substance use disorder (SUD) is a global public health concern that affects millions of people worldwide. Considering current research, addiction has been noted as the last stage of a chronic disease that may impair brain reward circuit responses and affects personal and social life. Treatments for SUD face challenges including availability and lim...

The serotonin transporter (SERT) removes synaptic serotonin and is the target of anti-depressant drugs. SERT adopts three conformations: outward-open, occluded, and inward-open. All known inhibitors target the outward-open state except ibogaine, which has an unusual anti-depressant profile and stabilizes the inward-open conformation. Unfortunately,...

Context Ibogaine is the main alkaloid of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. It produces hallucinogenic and psychostimulant effects, but it is currently known for the anti-addictive properties. Despite the potential therapeutic effects, several cases of fatalities and serious adverse events related to ibogaine/noribogaine use can be found in the l...

Mutations in the dopamine transporter gene (SLC6A3) have been implicated in many human diseases. Among these is the infantile parkinsonism-dystonia known as Dopamine Transporter Deficiency Syndrome (DTDS). Afflicted individuals have minimal to no functional dopamine transporter protein. This is primarily due to retention of misfolded disease-causin...

Many psychedelic drugs are praised on social media platforms like YouTube by non-experts or bias documentaries claiming that these drugs have therapeutic effects on addicted patients or clarity of the mind. The aim of this paper is to collect a neuroimaging documentation of these psychedelics drugs and their effect on the brain. That can be documen...

The psychedelic alkaloid ibogaine is increasingly used as an oral treatment for substance use disorders, despite being unlicensed in most countries and having reported adverse events. Using wild-type and genetically modified mice, we investigated the impact of mouse (m)Abcb1a/1b and Abcg2 drug efflux transporters, human and mouse OATP drug uptake t...

Ibogaine induces rapid changes in cellular energetics followed by the elevation of antioxidant activities. As shown earlier in male rats, ibogaine treatment with both 1 and 20 mg/kg b.w. per os led to significant glycogenolytic activity in the liver. In this work, female rats treated with the same doses of ibogaine per os displayed lower liver glyc...

Background Iboga and its primary alkaloids, ibogaine and noribogaine, have been of interest to researchers and practitioners, mainly due to their putative efficacy in treating substance use disorders (SUDs). For many SUDs, still no effective pharmacotherapies exist. Distinct psychoactive and somatic effects of the iboga alkaloids set them apart fro...

Even at therapeutic doses, ibogaine may cause potentially life-threatening cardiac arrhythmia. Science is beginning to unravel the pharmacological factors that may underlie ibogaine-induced cardiotoxicity.-Ibogaine has shown promising anti-addictive effects in both animal models and human trials, aiding those in search of a novel treatment for addi...

After a decades long period of investigational dormancy, there is renewed interest in employing psychedelics as treatments for mental illness and addiction. The academic journals, journal articles, academic institutions, and countries that have helped sustain clinical psychedelic research and the evolution of the literature on clinical studies of p...

Ibogaine effects are mediated by cellular receptors, ATP depletion followed by ROS production and antioxidant enzyme activity elevation in a dose and time dependent manner. Since the role of KATP channels and β-adrenoceptors in ROS cellular circuit was established here we explored their role in ibogaine pro-antioxidant effectiveness. Single dose of...

Hallucinogenic natural products constitute an important and interesting group of substances. The alkaloids, in particular, are a class of substances for which numerous biological and pharmacological activities are observed, including the hallucinogenic properties presented by several plant species that contain such metabolites. Recognizing the hist...