Study Reveals How the Body, Brain, and Consciousness Change During Ayahuasca Consumption

Ayahuasca is a powerful Amazonian brew known to induce profound effects, including the so-called ego dissolution-a temporary alteration in the usual sense of self or personal identity. But how does it produce these effects? An international study led by the Applied Metabolomics Research Group at the Hospital del Mar Research Institute (HMRIB) has shown that the experience arises through a complex coordination between the body, the brain, and consciousness itself. The findings have been published in Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy. Researchers from Maastricht University in the Netherlands and Goethe University Frankfurt in Germany also participated in the study.

The research analyzed and integrated the effects of ayahuasca consumption from multiple perspectives in 24 healthy volunteers who regularly use the psychedelic. By combining reports of participants' subjective experiences with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, the researchers observed how functional communication between brain networks was reorganized. In particular, they focused on the default mode network (DMN), which is involved in self-referential processing, internal thought, and the experience of the self. Under the influence of ayahuasca, this network appeared to lose some of its usual separation from attention networks, blurring the boundary between the internal and external worlds.

At the same time, the team collected data on the neurochemistry of the central nervous system and monitored changes in various blood metabolites, allowing them to link bodily changes with the brain's functional reorganization. The study found associations between circulating ayahuasca alkaloids and alterations in metabolic pathways involving amino acids, lipids, and endocannabinoids such as anandamide. Notably, specific blood lipids were associated with changes in phosphocreatine levels in the posterior cingulate cortex, a key region of the default mode network. "Beyond the classical serotonin-centered view, our results point to something more complex, involving lipid and endocannabinoid pathways that may contribute to highly relevant processes such as brain plasticity, emotional regulation, and the integration of signals between the body and the brain," explains the study's principal investigator, Francisco Madrid-Gambín.

"The ayahuasca experience does not appear to arise from a single isolated mechanism, but rather from a coordinated reorganization involving the body, the brain, and consciousness," says Madrid-Gambín. The findings open new perspectives for research in neuropsychiatry and pharmacometabolomics. The study will be presented at the Festival of Consciousness, to be held in Barcelona from July 10-12, and at the World Ayahuasca Forum, which will take place in Girona in early September.

Reference Article: Madrid-Gambín F, Mallaroni P, Haro N, Pozo OJ, Mason NL, Reckweg JT, Kloft-Heller L, van Oorsouw K, Toennes SW, Ramaekers JG. Brain-body integromics of the ayahuasca experience. Biomed Pharmacother. 2026 Jun;199:119391. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2026.119391. Epub 2026 Apr 23. PMID: 42030660.

Related Article: Madrid-Gambín F, Gomez-Gomez A, Busquets-Garcia A, Haro N, Marco S, Mason NL, Reckweg JT, Mallaroni P, Kloft L, Van Oorsouw K, Toennes SW, De la Torre R, Ramaekers JG, Pozo OJ. Metabolomics and integrated network analysis reveal roles of endocannabinoids and large neutral amino acid balance in the ayahuasca experience. Biomed Pharmacother. 2022 May;149:112845. doi: 10.1016/j.biopha.2022.112845. Epub 2022 Mar 24. PMID: 35339828.

Image: Metabolomics team