Ayahuasca Uses, Phytochemical and Biological Activities.
Ayahuasca (caapi, yajé), is a psychoactive brew from the Amazon Basin region of South America traditionally considered a master plant. It is prepared as a decoction from Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, which it is thought that it stimulates creative thinking and visual creativity. Native healers of the Orinoco and Amazon basins have used traditionally ayahuasca as a healing tool for multiple purposes, particularly to treat psychological disorders in the patients, with some beneficial effects experimentally and clinically validated. Recently, several syncretic religions, as the União de Vegetal (UDV) group in Brazil, have been spread around the world. The use of ayahuasca has been popularized by internet and smart-shops, bringing the psychoactive substance to new highs, emerging new ayahuasqueros. Ayahuasca has alkaloids as β-carbolines and dimethyltryptamines, which inhibit the monoamine oxidase and active the 5-HT