Muscimol (also known as agarin or pantherine) is one of the principal psychoactive constituents of Amanita muscaria and related species of mushroom. Muscimol is a potent and selective orthosteric agonist for the GABAA receptors and displays sedative-hypnotic, depressant and hallucinogenic psychoactivity. This colorless or white solid is classified as an isoxazole. Muscimol went under clinical trial phase I for epilepsy, but the trial was discontinued. Biochemistry Muscimol is one of the psychoactive compounds responsible for the effects of Amanita muscaria intoxication. Ibotenic acid, a neurotoxic secondary metabolite of Amanita muscaria, serves as a prodrug to muscimol when the mushroom is ingested or dried, converting to muscimol via decarboxylation. Muscimol is produced in the mushrooms Amanita muscaria (fly agaric) and Amanita pantherina, along with muscarine (which is present in trace amounts and it is not active), muscazone, and ibotenic acid. A. muscaria and A. pantherina should be eaten with caution and prepared properly to lessen effects of nausea. In A. muscaria, the layer just below the skin of the cap contains the highest amount of muscimol, and is therefore the most psychoactive portion. Pharmacology Muscimol is a potent GABAA agonist, activating the receptor for the brain's principal inhibitory neurotransmitter, GABA. Muscimol binds to the same site on the GABAA receptor complex as GABA itself, as opposed to other GABAergic drugs such as barbiturates and benzodiazepines which bind to separate regulatory sites. GABAA receptors are widely distributed in the brain, and so when muscimol is administered, it alters neuronal activity in multiple regions including the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, and cerebellum. While muscimol is normally thought of as a selective GABAA agonist with exceptionally high affinity to GABAA-delta receptors, it is also a partial agonist at the GABAA-rho receptor, and so its range of effects results from a combined action on more than one GABAA receptor subtype. The psychoactive dose of muscimol is around 10–15 mg for an average person. A Guide to British Psilocybin Mushrooms by Richard Cooper published in 1977 recommends a smaller dose, 8.5 mg, and suggests that it is possible for this amount to be present in as little as 1 g of dried A. muscaria but this is not consistent with most other reports which suggest 5–10 g is necessary. A correct dose may be difficult to determine because potency varies dramatically from one mushroom to the next. When consumed, a substantial percentage of muscimol goes un-metabolized and