Monoamine oxidase inhibitors, or MAOIs, are a classification of drugs that prevent certain enzymes, called monoamines, from severing a specific group of amino acids, thus oxidizing (destroying) them. MAOIs effectively allow for the prolonged buildup of specific monoamines in the body, whereas without the presence of MAOIs, the monamines are rapidly oxidized and rendered ineffective. Monoamin oxidase inhibitors are used commonly in the treatment of depression, as well as other conditions relating to social anxiety, panic, and post-traumatic stress, technically considered to be the first class of modern antidepressant medications.
Monoamines are important chemicals that play a crucial role in the regulation of emotions, stimulation stimulation, and memory. Well-known examples of monoamines that influence emotion and memory include dopamine, serotonin, and norepinepherine.
These important chemicals are secreted naturally in the human body and, due to the action of monoamine oxidases, are destroyed in a redox cycle. Monoamine oxidase inhibitors, as the name implies, prevents these chemicals from being destroyed, allowing them to remain active for longer periods of time in the body and their effects to be prolonged. For this reason, certain MAOIs are used in the treatment of depression and anxiety disorders, as increasing the presence of serotonin and dopamine in the human body can improve mood and reduce feelings of stress.
The monoamine dimethyltriptamine (DMT) is found in significant quantities in the plant tissue of the plant p. viridis, native to the Amazon jungle. A potent entheogen, DMT has pronounced effects on the regulation of serotonin and dopamine in the human body. However, due to its nature as an amine group, DMT is rapidly metabolized in the digestive system through the use of monoamine oxidases which also help to break down food. Only by introducing a monoamine oxidase inhibitor will the body’s amine oxidative processes be inhibited, thus protecting the DMT from oxidation and allowing it to accumulate in the system for long enough that its psychedelic effects are felt. Traditional ayahuasca uses the plant specie b. caapi as the source of the MAOIs harmine, harmaline, and tetrahydroharmine.
Different MAOIs have different half-lives – the rate of decay in which their potency subsides and eventually disappears – and thus each MAOI is has a unique amount of time in which it inhibits the oxidation of amines. The MAOI harmine, for example, has an effective half-life of 1-3 hours, meaning that approximately half of the harmine present in the system will have disappeared between 1-3 hours after administration. This window of time coincides with the average time in which an active ayahuasca ceremony is held, which may be anywhere from four to six hours, whereupon the vast majority of the MAOIs present in the ayahuasca have disappeared and the effects of the ayahuasca’s DMT are progressively less.
