Published in Scientific Reports, new research provides evidence that minor compounds in psychedelic mushrooms work alongside psilocybin to interact with brain receptors. This chemical teamwork explains why whole mushroom extracts often affect people differently than isolated, lab-made psilocybin.
"The computational models provided evidence that a compound called 4-hydroxy-N,N,N-trimethyltryptamine might bind to serotonin receptors even more strongly than psilocin does. This specific chemical is a broken-down form of aeruginascin, another natural compound found in the fungi.
“One surprising finding was that psilocybin itself may not be the most biologically active compound in these mushrooms,” Issahaku told PsyPost. “Our computational modelling suggested that another indole alkaloid, 4 hydroxy-N,N,N-trimethyltryptamine (a dephosphorylated form of aeruginascin), may bind even more strongly to serotonin receptors.”"