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More history on the sacred substance known as ayahuasca.

Via Discovery Magazine:

A lot is going on in ayahuasca, which has two main ingredients. The first, Psychotria viridis, is a perennial shrub called chacruna that contains N,N-Dimethyltryptamine, or DMT, the so-called “Spirit Molecule.” An incredibly powerful psychedelic, DMT binds to the serotonin receptor 5-HT2A, as well as the sigma-1 receptor, both of which have been shown to impact depression regulation.

But DMT is not active orally, so that’s where the second ingredient comes in. Banisteriopsis caapi is a vine that contains tetrahydroharmine, harmine, and harmaline, β-carbolinic alkaloids which are monoamine oxidase inhibitors. MAOIs not only work as antidepressants, they prevent DMT from breaking down in the digestive tract, making it psychoactive for ten hours or more. Tetrahydroharmine is also a weak selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, another class of antidepressant drug.

In other words, ayahuasca is a soup of different chemicals uniquely acting on multiple depression pathways. 

A 2017 study funded by Beckley showed that ayahuasca compounds can promote the birth of new brain cells, or neurogenesis, in petri dishes. 

Hit the jump to watch Chelsea Handler re-live her ayahuasca experience with Stephen Colbert.

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