thus excreted in urine, a phenomenon exploited by practitioners of the traditional entheogenic use of Amanita muscaria. In patients with Huntington's disease and chronic schizophrenia, oral doses of muscimol have been found to cause a rise of both prolactin and growth hormone. During a test involving rabbits connected to an EEG, muscimol presented with a distinctly synchronized EEG tracing. This is substantially different from serotonergic psychedelics, with which brainwave patterns generally show a desynchronization. In higher doses (2 mg/kg via IV), the EEG will show characteristic spikes. Effects The effects of muscimol begin around one hour after consumption, peaking at 3 hours, and lasting a total of 10–24 hours. These include euphoria, dream-like (lucid) state of mind, out-of-body experiences and synesthesia. Negative effects include mild to moderate nausea, stomach discomfort, increased salivation and muscle twitching or tremors. In large doses strong dissociation or delirium may be felt. Many of muscimol's effects are consistent with its pharmacology as a GABAA receptor agonist, presenting many depressant or sedative-hypnotic effects. Atypical of the effect profile of sedative drugs generally however, muscimol, like Z-drugs, can cause hallucinogenic changes in perception. The hallucinogenic effect produced by muscimol is most closely comparable to the hallucinogenic/Lilliputian side effects produced by some other GABAergic drugs such as zolpidem. Chemistry Structure Muscimol was first isolated from Amanita pantherina by Onda in 1964, and thought to be an amino acid or peptide. Structure was then elucidated by Takemoto, Eugster, and Bowden. Muscimol is a semi-rigid isoxazole containing both alcohol and aminomethyl substituents. Muscimol is commonly portrayed as a tautomer, where it adopts an amide-like configuration. It is also commonly shown as a zwitterion. Isolation Muscimol can be extracted from the flesh of the Amanita muscaria by treatment with boiling water, followed by rapid cooling, and further treatment with a basic resin. This is washed with water, and eluted with acetic acid using column chromatography. The eluate is freeze dried, dissolved in water, and passed down a column of cellulose phosphate. A subsequent elution with ammonium hydroxide and recrystallization from alcohol results in pure muscimol. In instances where pure muscimol is not required, such as recreational or spiritual use, a crude extract is often prepared by simmering dried Amanita muscaria in water for thirty minutes. Chemical Synthesis Muscimol was synthesized in 1965 by Gagneux, who utilized a bromo-isoxazole starting material in a two step reaction. 3-bromo-5-aminomethyl-isoxazole (1) was refluxed in a