“Some of the psychoactive and physiological roles of harmine have been known since Lewis published his paper on banisterine in 1928.”
Biography
Dale Millard is a naturalist and biodiversity explorer, with diverse interests and experience in fields ranging from herpetology to ethnobotany. He was curator at the Swadini Reptile Research institute for many years. His interest in the study of snake venoms for drug development later led to study of the chemistry and use of plant medicines. Dale has lived and travelled in Indonesia, Brazil and Southern African countries and has interviewed traditional healers in these areas as to their plant usage. His main interest relates to medicines that help modulate immune function in chronic illnesses such as HIV/AIDS and cancers. His work also explores cost effective and alternative approaches to tropical diseases such as malaria, dengue fever, and typhoid. He has maintained a lifelong interest in the healing role of entheogens and continues to document their use in poorly explored regions of the world. As an explorer, he is regularly exposed to “new” medicines and healing modalities. Dale has a special interest in the cultivation of medicinal plants and mushrooms and has taught numerous workshops relating to agro forestry and plant based primary healthcare. He is an advocate and campaigner for organic agriculture and food safety and currently works as an ethnobotanical consultant.
Broad spectrum roles of Harmine in Ayahuasca.
“The findings discussed may yet in future, also help offer hope in certain areas where conventional medicine may be challenged.”
Transcript abstract
This presentation seeks to provide an overview from both past and current findings on harmine, demonstrating its antimicrobial, antidiabetic, anticancer, antidepressant, antiparasitic, DNA binding, osteogenic, neuroprotective as well as other lesser known effects. I will speculate that as harmine is by far the most abundant constituent of the medicine ayahuasca, its presence in pharmacologically active amounts may therefore provide some rationale for its contribution in ayahuasca’s wide application in traditional medicine and its general reputation for treating a broad range of disease and ailments.
Some of the psychoactive and physiological roles of harmine have been known since Lewis published his paper on banisterine in 1928. Harmine has now received the attention of the international scientific community, looking at a broad range of activities that have alluded to the possible application of harmine in several different areas of medicine. In more recent years studies have begun looking at both the endogenous and physiological roles of dimethyltryptamine. Similarly, beta-carbolines are found in various body tissues and fluids, thus a modulation type effect may be responsible for some of the claimed therapeutic properties.
A major role of harmine in the synergistic effect of ayahuasca chemistry, is to function as a mono amino oxidase inhibitor for dimethyltryptamine, though as a single molecule on its own, harmine shows some potent and broad spectrum activities. The findings discussed may yet in future, also help offer hope in certain areas where conventional medicine may be challenged. It is hoped that this overview may help researchers explore some of the hidden potentials of harmine as well as raise general awareness as to its possible therapeutic role in the medicine ayahuasca.
