PlanetMedicines

The dominant factor spanned a continuum of experiential facets whose opposite extreme flagged words that appear to describe mental expansion, including the terms universe, space, world, consciousness, breakthrough, existence, earth, dimension, reality, flame, and tunnel—all of which would be consistent with the phenomenology of the mystical experience (3). References to liminal conscious beings, also characteristic of the mystical experience, were described by the terms entity, sitter, alien, beings, and spirit. A theme of immediate time horizon was indicated by the term seconds and also suggested by references to bodily systems such as eyes and lungs, along with physiological functions inhale(d), exhaled, and breath. At the level of neurotransmitter receptors, this constellation of induced conscious alterations was linked most strongly with drugs that preferentially bind to D1, 5-HT7, KOR, 5-HT5A, as well as Sigma-1 and NMDA. The codependencies embedded in this profile of receptor bindings and subjective terms were most closely associated with the hallucinogenic drugs DMT, salvinorin A, 5-MeO-DMT, and ketamine. The anatomical brain regions that coexpress these sets of receptor density proxies included some of the highest regions of the association cortex, especially the rostral and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, temporoparietal junction, and also prominently in the primary motor and sensory cortices. >