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Cross-Cultural ‘Encounter’ Experiences and Neurohormonal Transmission
By Joseph Durwin
Part IV
The Pineal Gland
First mentioned in 3rd century B.C.E. by the Greek physician Herophilus, the pineal gland is the only unpaired organ or site in the human brain. All other sites and organs have right and left counterparts. Rene Descartes believed the pineal to be the source of thoughts, due to it's position directly above a cerebral byway for cerebrospinal fluid. He believed this would allow it to secrete thoughts in sort of "stream of consciousness" into the rest of the brain (Descartes, 1954).
In evolutionarily older animals, the pineal possesses a lens, cornea, and retina, but these are not in working order, and are lacking the appropriate neural connections (Miller, 1975). In lower animals, the pineal body helps to regulate body temperature and epidermal coloration. Apparently, as evolution progressed, the pineal retreated farther into the brain. Although the human pineal gland is not directly sensitive to light in adults, the fontanel, the opening in the skull located directly above the pineal in infants, may allow enough light in to affect it.
Since Descartes, there has been much debate about the role of the pineal gland in the human body. At Yale, in 1958, Aaron Lerner isolated melatonin production within the pineal gland (Lerner, 1958; 1959). Melatonin (N-actely-5-methoxy-tryptamine), it was learned, is manufactured from serotonin (5HT, or 5-hydroxy-tryptamine) by the following process: an N-acetylating enzyme converts serotonin (5HT) to N-acetyl serotonin -- which is then O-methylated by HIOMT (hydroxy-indole-O-methyltransferase). (McClay, 1976; Axelrod, et al, 1960 )
It was later discovered that melatonin production was stimulated by darkness, causing an enlargement of the pineal. When the pineal becomes enlarged, sexual functioning is reduced. Conversely, light shrinks the pineal, reduces melatonin, and increases sexual function. (Karsch et al, 1984). At puberty, the pineal calcifies to a great degree in most people, and this reduction of melatonin allows for the development of secondary sex characteristics. Curiously, the pineal gland first becomes visible in a human fetus at 49 days (7 weeks), the time when the gender of the child may be first determined. No definitive or useful correlation between these events has yet been demonstrated.
Although melatonin as a compound is not directly psychoactive, there are many anecdotal reports which state that melatonin supplements, in addition to reducing sexual functioning and hastening sleep, may induce ideal conditions for lucid dreaming. In any case, other evidence indicates that the pineal gland may be capable of secreting much more potent psychoactive tryptamines.
Endogenous DMT
In the early years of research on psychedelic compounds, they were generally referred to as "psychotomimetics," chemicals which invoked a semblance of a psychotic state. It was speculated that the presence of these chemicals, or chemicals like them, might be the agency behind schizophrenia. (Wooley, 1962)
Prior to the sixties, DMT had been found in the brains of rats and mice, and scientists had discovered DMT-forming enzymes in samples of human lung tissue. Many researchers wondered if dimethyltryptamine might not occur in the brain. In 1965, German researchers published in the British journal Nature that they had isolated DMT from human blood. Then, in 1972, Nobel Laureate Julius Axelrod reported finding it in human brain tissue. Additional studies confirmed these results, as well as finding it in human urine and cerebrospinal fluid. (Axelrod, et al., 1961; Barker, et al, 1981)
So then, as the endorphin was the first naturally occurring narcotic to be found, Dimethyl-tryptamine became the first endogenous human psychedelic. The question obviously became, why is DMT in the brain? What is its function? Research was conducted into DMT's possible role in schizophrenia. Earlier research had indicated that some schizophrenics do show diminished responsiveness to DMT (Szara, et al, 1958). This could be caused by increased metabolism or variable tolerance due to long-term endogenous synthesis.
This research was curtailed abruptly by the political hysteria of the times. In 1970, the Controlled Substance Act placed DMT into an extremely restricted category, hampering human research. In 1976, scientists at the NIMH published a paper effectively concluding human research related to DMT as a mechanism of psychosis, stating merely that the research was as yet inconclusive (Gillin, et al, 1976). In the climate of anti-psychedelic politics of those years, most researchers simply backed away from controlled tests.
DMT is a compound unique among an entire class of naturally occurring psychedelic tryptamines, including psilocybin (O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) and 5-Methoxy-Dimethyltryptamine, in that is the simplest of these chemicals. It is closely related to the tryptamine serotonin. DMT is also unlike any other psychedelic drug in that the brain actively transports it across the Blood-Brain-Barrier (Takahahsi, et al, 1985; Yanai, 1986). Once DMT is transported across the blood brain barrier, monoamine oxidase begin to break it down within seconds.
These facts all suggest that DMT has a natural function in the body.
The pineal gland possesses the highest concentrated levels of serotonin anywhere in the body (Giarman, eta al, 1960; Cooper, et al, 1996) The pineal also contains the methyl-transferase enzymes which would convert serotonin or tryptamine into potent psychedelics. In addition to HIOMT, mentioned previously, it also contains INMT (indole-N-methyl transferase)(Most, 1986; Quay, 1974). Under proper conditions, these enzymes can break down 5HT into either DMT or 5-Methoxy-DMT.
As demonstrated earlier, DMT can produce all the characteristic elements reported in 'alien' abduction experiences. However, for these accounts to be related to the larger body of reports and folklore, it would seem that some aspect of the experience must trigger or be triggered by a neurochemical response substantially similar to that of the body under the influence of DMT.
Evidence for the Pineal's Role in 'Encounter' Experiences
As we have seen, the Pineal body is the most plausible source of the DMT found in human bodies. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that under certain circumstances, the pineal gland can release Dimethyltryptamine and possibly 5-Methoxy-Dimethyltryptamine under conditions where its effects would last long enough to mediate the structure of the perceptions which take place during a reported alien encounter.
During certain situations, stress induced catecholamines (epinephrine and norepinephrine) may overwhelm the pineal security system, allowing small amounts of DMT to be synthesized. Strassman has suggested that the sensory changes which take place in the "runner's high" have a resemblance to low-dose DMT (Strassman, 1989). Pineal security systems may be decimated in some schizophrenic patients- stress worsens hallucinations, and at times of stress higher levels of DMT have been found in these patients (Murray, 1979).
Additionally, the pineal gland synthesizes and contains beta-carbolines, such as 10-Methoxy-Harmalan and Pinoline, which may exert monoamine oxidase inhibitory functions, which would thereby theoretically extend the subjective effects of DMT by inhibiting its breakdown (McIsaac, et al, 1961; Callaway, 1995, 1988, 2002). Stress also can cause release of MAO inhibitors (Bhattachyra, 1982).
The timing of encounters also suggest involvement of the pineal gland. Nearly all experiences are reported as taking place at night, when the pineal is most enlarged. Abductees perceive their bodies as being paralyzed much in the same way as it is chemically paralyzed during dreaming. The amount of contact in early childhood, too, contrasted with a darkening of the experience in memory starting at puberty, when the pineal gland begins to calcify in most people.
Other effects reported in the aftermath of these experiences also point toward pineal involvement. Photo-sensitivity can occur due to changes in the pineal gland and due to MAO inhibition (Eakin, 1973); while decrease of sleep time could occur in relationship with side effects in pineal melatonin production. The low occurrence of alcohol use in abductees might be related to problems with serotonin depletion and tryptophan metabolism defects associated with alcohol use and alcoholism(Olson, et al, 1960. Nyctalopia due to Vitamin A deficiency can be related to degeneration of pineal tissue (Eakin, 1964; 1973).
The human pineal is also known to sense and react to various types of electromagnetic fields such as those described in or found nearby encounters; these electromagnetic fields can interfere with the pineal production of chemicals (Loscher, 1994; Kobayashi, 1995). Michael Persinger has demonstrated the possibility of inducing something akin to a fully-detailed "abduction" experience by the use of electro-magnetic rays on the brain (Persinger, 1974, 1977; Blackmore, 1999); it is not unlikely that the chemical phenomenon caused by these rays is the same process outlined here.
If the structure of the "encounter" experiences as depicted in the reports found in this paper is mediated by the release of Dimethyltryptamine under certain favorable conditions, the original cause of this phenomenon is unclear. One hypothesis could be that these experiences are simply state-specific hallucinations brought on by certain types of environmental and psychological stress, combined with certain types of electro-magnetic exposure. This hypothesis, however, fails to account for the more voluminous physical evidence and mass sightings. Another theory might be that these experiences are brought on intentionally by outside forces and calculated to neuro-chemically take a certain form. The questions in this case becomes, what or who is prompting this phenomenon, and toward what purpose? These theories and other which might be presented can only be checked against continuing and more extensive research
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