Abstract
The herbal preparation ayahuasca has been an important part of ritual and healing
practices, deployed to access invisible worlds in several indigenous groups in the
Amazon basin and among mestizo populations of South America. The preparation is usually known to be composed of
two main plants, Banisteriopsis caapi and Psychotria viridis, which produce both hallucinogenic and potent purging and emetic effects; currently,
these are considered its major pharmacological activities. In recent decades, the
psychoactive and visionary effect of ayahuasca has been highly sought after by the
shamanic tourism community, which led to the popularization of ayahuasca use globally
and to a cultural distancing from its traditional cosmological meanings, including
that of purging and emesis. Further, the field of ethnobotany and ethnopharmacology
has also produced relatively limited data linking the phytochemical diversity of ayahuasca
with the different degrees of
its purging and emetic versus psychoactive effects. Similarly, scientific interest has also principally addressed
the psychological and mental health effects of ayahuasca, overlooking the cultural
and pharmacological importance of the purging and emetic activity. The aim of this
review is therefore to shed light on the understudied purging and emetic effect of
ayahuasca herbal preparation. It firstly focuses on reviewing the cultural relevance
of emesis and purging in the context of Amazonian traditions. Secondly, on the basis
of the main known phytochemicals described in the ayahuasca formula, a comprehensive
pharmacological evaluation of their emetic and purging properties is presented.
Key words
Banisteriopsis caapi
-
Psychotria viridis
- Malpighiaceae - Rubiaceae - Ayahuasca - traditional Amazonian medicine - emetic
- purgative
