Amanita muscaria
Amanita muscaria (also known as fly agaric or fly amanita) is a psychoactive mushroom that grows widely in the northern hemisphere. The fly agaric is a large white-gilled, white-spotted, usually red mushroom that is one of the most recognizable and widely encountered in popular culture 🍄. The mushroom is arguably[1] the Soma-plant in Vedic religion[2] as it is noted for its hallucinogenic properties, which derive from its primary psychoactive constituents ibotenic acid and muscimol[3].
Although classified as poisonous, reports of human deaths resulting from its ingestion are extremely rare. This is further compounded by several recorded cases of ingestion without issue[4]. The key to its safety is differentiation from the Destroying Angel and the Death Cap (90% of all fatal mushroom poisonings see figure 1) and then parboiling—which weakens its toxicity and breaks down the mushroom's psychoactive substances. To this day, the dried mushroom is used as a medicinal ingredient, and as a substitute for alcohol in parts of Russia as a narcotic by the Koryak people[5].
Toxicity
Since muscimol and ibotenic acid are GABAA agonists, it may be harmful to combine it with other GABAergic depressants such as benzodiazepines or barbiturates. Ibotenic acid is also known to be a neurotoxin, acting via the NMDA receptor and metabotropic glutamate receptor. It is wise to dry amanita muscarias in the oven or purchase pre-dried amanitas to ensure the ibotenic acid concentration is as low as possible.
One of the major dangers of amanita muscaria is misidentifying it as a different species of mushroom. Several other mushrooms in the genus amanita are toxic. One such mushroom, the amanita phalloides, better known as the death cap, contains α-amanitin and β-Amanitin, both of which are extremely potent RNA polymerase II and RNA polymerase III inhibitors which damage virtually every tissue in the body. As the name suggests, the amanita muscaria contains the chemical muscarine, a muscarinic acetylcholine agonist which is known to cause seizures; however, the mushroom contains very low amounts that are highly unlikely to pose any significant harm.
Amanita muscaria mushrooms are not known to be addictive or dependence-forming, and reports even show that desire to redose goes down with usage, though there is no research on this topic.
- ↑ Soma and "Amanita muscaria" Author(s): John Brough Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1971), pp. 331-362 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/612695
- ↑ Soma and "Amanita muscaria" Author(s): John Brough Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 34, No. 2 (1971), pp. 331-362 Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/612695
- ↑ Hallucinogenic Species in Amanita Muscaria. Determination of Muscimol and Ibotenic Acid by Ion Interaction HPLC M. C. Gennaro a , D. Giacosa a , E. Gioannini a & S. Angelino a a Università di Torino Dipartimento di Chimica Analitica Via P. Giuria , 5 10125, Torino, Italy Published online: 23 Sep 2006.
- ↑ Buck, R. W. (1963). Toxicity of Amanita muscaria. JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association, 185(8), 663. doi:10.1001/jama.1963.03060080059020
- ↑ Russian Use of Amanita muscaria: A Footnote to Wasson's Soma Author(s): Ethel Dunn Source: Current Anthropology, Vol. 14, No. 4 (Oct., 1973), pp. 488-492 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2740856 . Accessed: 16/02/2015 19:02