Re: What function does dimethyltryptamine have in humans and plants?

After extensive research Im affraid to say that I can't find anyone who has a definitive answer on what dimethyltryptamine (DMT) would do "naturally" in the body. One thing I did find out though is that it is likely that 5-methoxytyrptamine (5-MeO-DMT)is more likely to be the actual product found naturally in the brain, and still its function being produced there is unknown.

As for it being actively transported across the blood/brain barrier there isn't a need for that to occur as far as I can see. The pineal gland is actually located within the brain and has neurons that lead directly to the higher brain. So as DMT is a neuroactive compound it does not need transportation, it, in a way, is produced on site.

As for unique enzymes in its synthetic pathway, there would be many, it was suggested that a number of methylating enzymes could produce DMT from tryptamine, but as mentioned above if 5-MeO-DMT is the true natural product then tryptamine may undergo methoxylation or hydroxylation before being methylated, again the exact pathway is not certain.

One thing I can tell though is that plants would produce DMT as a defence mechanism. Plant alkaloids have a range of effects from poisons to hallucinogenic and they are produced by the plant to hopefully stop it being eaten or touched by higher animals. Most mammals if suffering a negative reaction to a plant would be extremely wary to encounter such a plant again and therefore the plant would have a better chance of survival.

It is actually unique amongst mammals that humans actually find some of the poisons created by plants to be useful. No other animal on earth finds the heat from chilis actually pleasing and would certainly not eat one twice. The same can be said about the psycotropic nature of such non- addictive alkaloids as LSD or DMT, certainly not even higher primates enjoy such compounds, though it must be said neither do the vast majority of the public, which is why such compounds are deemed narcotic.

Anyhow hope some of that helped, obviously a lot of work needs to be done to discover the nature of many of the compounds that are produced in the body, and probably one day genetics will tell us which enzymes regulate their synthesis as well, but until I guess be wary of alkaloids of all sorts, plants don't just synthesise them for the sake of it.

Regards

David Barker ++++++++++ Note from MadSci administrator: On the topic of chilis: it is thought that birds fail to detect capsaicin (a vanilloid compound, and the active ingredient in chili) because the "capsaicin receptor" protein in avian species has a slightly different amino acid structure than the mammalian protein. Thus, birds can eat chilis and scatter their seeds widely. Bird aficionados take advantage of this by spiking birdseed with chili powder, so that squirrels and other animals leave the food untouched.