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Home/Research/Ayahuasca/Neuroimaging & Brain Measures

Ayahuasca for Neuroimaging & Brain Measures

45 papers and 5 clinical trials exploring ayahuasca as a treatment for neuroimaging & brain measures.

Compoundclassic psychedelic

Ayahuasca

Ayahuasca is a botanical decoction combining DMT with MAO-inhibiting harmala alkaloids, producing intense psychedelic effects lasting 3-6 hours. Clinical trials show rapid, large antidepressant effects from a single dose, with a favourable safety profile in controlled settings.

Full Ayahuasca profile
IndicationApproximately 264 million people globally suffer from depression, with PTSD affecting around 8 million adults in the United States each year.

Neuroimaging & Brain Measures

Recent advances in neuroimaging have shed light on the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of psychedelics, particularly in the treatment of mental health disorders such as depression and PTSD. Studies involving compounds like psilocybin and MDMA have demonstrated significant changes in brain activity associated with therapeutic outcomes.

Full Neuroimaging & Brain Measures profile

Academic Research

45 papers
Open Accessindividual

EXPRESS: Global Increases in Brain Glucose Metabolism Following Acute N,N-Dimethyltryptamine and Harmine Administration in Healthy Volunteers: A randomised [F]FDG-PET Study

This re-analysis of a randomised crossover study (n=14) in healthy men found that buccal DMT plus harmine (pharmahuasca) increased brain glucose metabolism compared with placebo, with widespread rises across the cortex, especially in higher-order networks. The increase was linked to harmine levels, but not to DMT levels or to how intense the experience felt.

Published
June 1, 2026
Journal
Journal of Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism
Authors
Egger, K., Bozsak, R., Aicher, H. D. D., Sari, H., Poetzsch, S. N., Rominger, A., Martin-Soelch, C., Smallridge, J. W., Dornbierer, D., Quednow, B. B., Scheidegger, M., Cumming, P.
Open Accessindividual

An exploratory persistent-homology analysis of resting-state fMRI functional connectivity under Ayahuasca

This exploratory brain imaging study (n=9) examined resting-state fMRI connectivity before and after ayahuasca and found a small drop in one measure of topological complexity in the main analysis, but this did not hold up after correction and was not seen when signed correlations were used. Exploratory measures of signal complexity rose slightly but not significantly.

Published
May 30, 2026
Journal
Chaos, Solitons & Fractals
Authors
dos Santos, T. C., de Araujo, D. B., Felippe, H., Miranda, J. G. V., Palhano-Fontes, F., Silva do Rosário, R., Onias, H., Viol, A., Viswanathan, G. M., Santos, F. A.
Open Accessindividual

Brain-body integromics of the ayahuasca experience

This observational study (n=20) of experienced ayahuasca users linked the drug’s subjective effects with changes in blood alkaloids, metabolism and brain network connectivity. The strongest shared patterns involved altered default mode and attention networks alongside lipid-related metabolic signals, suggesting the ayahuasca experience reflects coordinated brain-body changes.

Published
April 23, 2026
Journal
Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy
Authors
Madrid-Gambin, F., Mallaroni, P., Haro, N., Pozo, O. J., Mason, N. L., Reckweg, J. T., Kloft-Heller, L., van Oorsouw, K., Toennes, S. W., Ramaekers, J. G.
Paywallindividual

Predicting and exploring ayahuasca effects: Perception, mind-wandering, and EEG oscillations

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of 50 volunteers, ayahuasca produced robust perceptual, emotional and mystical experiences alongside EEG changes (notably reduced global alpha and increased frontomedial delta and right-posterior theta/beta), with acute lower theta linked to stronger mystical effects and baseline theta and beta oscillations predicting interoceptive and emotional responses.

Published
December 4, 2025
Journal
Journal of Psychopharmacology
Authors
Silva-Costa, N., Pessoa, J. A., Andrade, K. C., Mota-Rolim, S., Palhano-Fontes, F., Araujo, D. B., Wießner, I.
Open Accessindividual

Meditation, psychedelics, and brain connectivity: A randomized controlled resting-state fMRI study of N,N-dimethyltryptamine and harmine in a meditation retreat

In a double-blind, placebo-controlled resting-state fMRI study of 40 meditation practitioners, buccal DMT–harmine increased functional connectivity within the visual network and between visual and attention/salience networks, whereas meditation with placebo produced greater network segregation. No prolonged disruption of cortical gradients was observed, indicating a return to typical brain organisation shortly after the experience and pointing to distinct neural mechanisms — and potential clinical complementarities — between meditation and psychedelic-augmented meditation.

Published
September 29, 2025
Journal
Imaging Neuroscience
Authors
Egger, K., Meling, D., Polat, F., Seifritz, E., Avram, M., Scheidegger, M.
Open Accessindividual

Resilience and Brain Changes in Long-Term Ayahuasca Users: Insights From Psychometric and fMRI Pattern Recognition

Long-term ayahuasca users exhibited higher psychological resilience and distinct patterns of emotional brain reactivity on fMRI, with a machine-learning classifier separating users from controls at 75% accuracy and a regression model predicting individual resilience (r = 0.69). These findings suggest long-term ayahuasca use is associated with neural adaptations in emotional processing detectable by multivariate pattern analysis.

Published
August 20, 2025
Journal
Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Authors
Rego Ramos, L., Fernandes Jr, O., Arruda Sanchez, T.

Clinical Trials

5 trials
CompletedPhase I

Molecular Imaging Study of Harmine/DMT: a Basic Research Approach (HaD-PET)

Phase I, randomised, single-blind crossover FDG-PET study (n≈17) assessing acute cerebrometabolic effects of an oral harmine+DMT formulation versus placebo in healthy male volunteers.

Started
January 22, 2024
Type
interventional
Blinding
single
Randomized
Yes
Registry ID
NCT06252506
CompletedPhase I

Mindfulness and Psychedelics

This double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (n=40) aims to investigate the potential neurophysiological synergy effects between mindfulness meditation and psychedelics, particularly ayahuasca, on experienced meditators.

Started
February 20, 2023
Type
interventional
Blinding
quadruple
Randomized
Yes
Registry ID
NCT05780216
Not yet recruitingPhase I

An open label study to evaluate the safety, tolerability, and subjective effects of two dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and harmala alkaloid containing formulations in healthy volunteers

Randomised crossover Phase I healthy volunteer study (n=8) assessing two oral DMT–harmala formulations with dose escalation (1.0→1.4 mg/kg DMT; 4→5.6 mg/kg harmala).

Started
November 5, 2022
Type
interventional
Blinding
single
Randomized
Yes
Registry ID
ACTRN12622001315707
CompletedPhase I/II

Antidepressant Effects of Ayahuasca: a Randomized Placebo Controlled Trial in Treatment Resistant Depression

This randomised, placebo-controlled parallel trial (n=35) tested a single oral dose of ayahuasca versus placebo in patients with treatment-resistant depression.

Started
February 1, 2014
Type
interventional
Blinding
triple
Randomized
Yes
Registry ID
NCT02914769
Completed

Antidepressant Effects of a Single Dose of Ayahuasca in Patients With Recurrent Depression: An Open-Label SPECT Neuroimaging Study

This unregistered trial (n=17) was an open-label, single-arm pilot study of ayahuasca for recurrent depression in adults, which demonstrated significant, sustained reductions in depressive symptoms alongside changes in regional cerebral blood flow.

Started
January 1, 2012
Type
interventional
Randomized
No
Registry ID
SANCHES-2016-JCP-AYAHUASCA-SPECT

Explore further

Search all Ayahuasca papers Search all Neuroimaging & Brain Measures trials Full Ayahuasca profile Full Neuroimaging & Brain Measures profile