Mushroom Magic How psilocybin, the active agent in magic mushrooms, is opening a window into human consciousness...

The story begins on the morning of October 3rd 1799. A poor man can be noticed in the gloomy dawn light gathering field mushrooms in London's Green Park. When he gets dwelling, the mushrooms are cooked with flour, water and salt to supply a Psilocybe semilanceatamorning broth for him, his wife and their 4 kids. maag

Some hours later Everard Brande, a doctor, is summoned for the household where the family are experiencing strange symptoms. The father has created vertigo and disturbed vision; the rest on the family complain of poisoning and stomach cramps with their extremities becoming cold. Their pulses and breathing oscillate in between frightening highs and lows. The family are overwhelmed with the fear of dying - all, that's, except eight year old Edward, who's "attacked with fits of immoderate laughter".

Nowadays we can be pretty particular that the strange symptoms experienced by the family 200 years ago were the result of accidental consumption of Liberty Cap mushrooms. Or, to offer them the name by which they may be greater know, "magic mushrooms" or "shrooms".

These develop extensively in the UK and continental Europe in the autumn. They carry the name "Liberty Cap" because of their resemblance for the Phrygian Cap, normally noticed as a symbol of liberty. maag oh43

Magic mushrooms

Liberty Cap mushrooms (Psilocybe semilanceata) are part of the large family of up to 200 species of Basidiomycota mushroom that contain the psychedelic drug psilocybin. These mushrooms are identified in many parts on the world, with the Psilocybe genus being the key variety. Psilocybe have lengthy been related with ritual because of their ability to adjust human perception - the "psychedelic" effect. Evidence has been identified in Algeria, Mexico and Spain for their use in religious ceremonies. The Aztecs known as them teonanacatl (divine mushroom) along with the mushrooms were reportedly served at the coronation of Moctezuma II in 1502. Use of Psilocybe by the Aztecs was suppressed following the Spanish conquest, but they continued to be employed covertly by native Indians in this part of America. maag oh44

Little was identified about these ceremonies in the US and Europe until husband and wife team Gordon and Valentina Wasson travelled to Mushroom statuesMexico in the 1950s. Their aim was to understand the culture related with the "divine mushroom" and they created numerous visits to Mexico at that time. In 1955, Gordon Wasson was one on the 1st westerners to take part in an indigenous mushroom ceremony. Wasson wrote an report for the well-liked magazine "Life" in 1957, describing the mushroom ceremony along with the sensations he experienced. The French mycologist, Roger Heim, accompanied the Wassons on one stop by and Heim identified the mushrooms as Psilocybe mexicana.

The following step was to identify the active chemical in the mushrooms, so samples were offered to Albert Hofmann at Sandoz in Basel. Hofmann was already popular as the chemist who had 1st synthesised the related psychedelic drug LSD in 1938, and who later inadvertently experienced the effects on the drug himself. Hofmann created extracts on the Psilocybe and analysed the constituents for their psychological effects, typically testing the extracts on himself. He showed that there were two principal active compounds in the mushrooms, psilocybin and psilocin; when ingested, psilocybin is rapidly converted to psilocin.

The effects of psilocybin and LSD

So what are the effects of psilocybin and psilocin on humans? Psilocybin has effects rather related for the two other principal psychedelic drugs, mescaline and LSD, though there are actually differences in detail and in potency. Sol Snyder, in his book Drugs along with the Brain, describes how he took LSD to document and recognize its effects. This really is a great description from a respected scientist; he reports changes in sensory perception, mainly visual effects. Objects may look distorted, adjust colour or even move. Confusion in between sensory modalities (synaesthesia) may also happen. Sense of time and space are altered but it is definitely the effect on the sense of self that's particularly striking. "Boundaries in between self and non-self evaporate, giving rise to a serene sense of being at one with the universe." He goes on to speculate: "The nearly predictable transcendence of ego boundaries brought on by these drugs has induced scientists to consider that there might possibly be a neural basis for the ego." Other individuals report heightened awareness, super-reality and mystical experiences immediately after taking the drug. Countless people have enjoyed the effects developed by these drugs, which sometimes present insights not available in normal life. For others it is an unpleasant experience along with a minority have injured or killed themselves consequently of disorientation induced by changed perception or loss of self. The experience may rely on the state on the individual and their atmosphere when they take the drug ("set and setting"). Extra just lately a five-component scale has been devised to supply a semi-quantitative measure on the effects of those drugs.

Mechanisms of action of psilocybin and LSD

So, how are these curious effects on human consciousness achieved by these drugs? Inside the situation of psilocybin and LSD, it is believed that the drugs hijack some of the normal processes in the brain. Brain function will depend on the release of chemical substances termed neurotransmitters. These are detected by their binding to specialised proteins known as receptors. One particular neurotransmitter that's essential for regulating a host of functions in the brain and elsewhere is serotonin. This neurotransmitter regulates behaviour, mood, sleep, appetite and blood flow. Psilocybin and LSD each bind to and activate receptors for serotonin which can be present throughout the nervous system, so it isn't surprising that they've such broad impacts on beaviour and function.

To probe these effects a lot more deeply, scientists have begun brain scanning men and women working with the agent, but so far the outcomes are unclear. One particular study identified brain activation Ruby Slipperswhen psilocybin was administered to human volunteers, whereas an additional study reported reduced activity, so further work is expected.