Psychedelics Being Used For Testing
Question: I’ve heard ayahuasca is possibly helping development of new neurons? Would this be a treatment for damaged and dead neurons causing PPS?
Dr. Bruno’s Response: Ayahuasca is a psychedelic plant made into a tea that is used in religious ceremonies in South America. Ayahuasca tea is made from the plant’s leaves, containing DMT (dimethyltryptamine), and the stem of a vine containing chemicals called beta-carbolines, which prevent the breakdown of DMT in the gut.
In 2020, researchers in Spain reported that beta-carbolines in ayahuasca stimulate the growth of neurons in laboratory mouse cell culture and that DMT stimulates neuron creation in live mice. (1) Unfortunately, in a damaged central nervous system, you not only have to replace damaged neurons with new neurons, but also connect them to functioning neurons. While this may be "easier" in the brain, new neurons in the spinal cord would be of no use to polio survivors since they would have to connect upward with the brain and downward to the muscles for movement to be restored.
(See “Stem Cells and PPS”, it’s one of the articles under the topics of “Stem Cells” and “Treatment” in the Index that may be of interest.)
Some researchers worry that the creation of new neurons - chemically or through the injection of stem cells - would “disturb normal neuronal circuits” and “propose that the focus of research should be the preservation of neurons by prevention of damage, not their replacement." (2)
So, for polio survivors right now, the safest (and only) path is the "prevention of damage” to neurons or, as I've heard it called, "Conserve to Preserve" remaining, poliovirus-damaged neurons.
Sources:
(1) www.nature.com/articles/s41398-020-01011-0#citeas
(2) link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00429-019-01917-6