Amanita Muscaria

[THE EXSPOSER OF DEVIL MINT]

Amanita muscaria contains a number of biologically active agents, at least two of which are known to be psychoactive. Muscimol (3hydroxy-5-aminomethy-1 isoxazole, an unsaturated cyclic hydroxamic acid) is the most significant. It is the product of the decarboxylation or drying of ibotenic acid, another important compound in the biochemistry of the fly agaric. Muscarine, discovered in 1869,[58] was long thought to be the active hallucinogenic agent in A. muscaria until the mid 20th century,[59] [60] when researchers in England,[61] Japan,[62] and Switzerland[63] recognized that these effects were due mainly to ibotenic acid and muscimol.[3]
Ibotenic acid and muscimol are structurally related to each other and to two major neurotransmitters of the central nervous system: glutamic acid and GABA respectively. Ibotenic acid and muscimol act like these neurotransmitters (muscimol is a potent GABAA agonist, while ibotenic acid is an agonist of NMDA glutamate receptors and certain metabotropic glutamate receptors[64]) which are involved in the control of neuronal activity. It is these interactions which are thought to cause the psychoactive effects found in intoxication. Following ingestion some of the ibotenic acid is metabolised to muscimol which would appear to be the agent responsible for the majority of the psychoactivity.[5][65] Indeed, ibotenic acid's strong water solubility means that it could not distribute into the brain without an active process like a transporter; this, and the lack of any reports of permanent brain damage following A. muscaria ingestion (which would be the result of ibotenic acid entering the brain due to its effect as an NMDA receptor agonist) make it unlikely that ibotenic acid enters the brain following A. muscaria ingestion. However, it is worth noting that no studies have directly investigated ibotenic acid's ability to permeate the brain.

Muscazone is another compound more recently isolated from European specimens of the fly agaric. It is a product of the breakdown of ibotenic acid by ultra-violet radiation.[66] It is of minor pharmacological activity compared with the other agents.[5]

Muscarine binds with Muscarinic acetylcholine receptor and lead to the excitation of the neurons bearing these receptors. The levels in Amanita muscaria are minute when compared with other poisonous fungi,[67] such as the deadly Inocybe erubescens or small white Clitocybe species C. dealbata and C. rivulosa, and are too insignificant to play a role in the symptoms of poisoning.[68]

Amanita muscaria and related species are known as effective accumulators of vanadium (up to 500 mg/kg in dry weight). Vanadium is present as an organometallic compound (called amavadine) in fruit-bodies. However, the biological importance of the accumulation process is unknown. http://www.bouncingbearbotanicals.com/latvian-amanita-muscaria-grade-caps-p-348.html