Effects of the hallucinogenic beverage ayahuasca on voluntary ethanol intake by rats and on cFos expression in brain areas relevant to drug addiction

Abstract Ayahuasca is a hallucinogenic infusion used in religious ritualsthat has serotoninergic properties and may be a potential therapeutic option for drug addiction. In this study, Wistar rats had intermittent access to ethanol for 8 weeks, receiving water (control), naltrexone (NTX, 2 mg/kg pc ip) or ayahuasca (Aya) at 0.5, 1 or 2X the ritual dose in the final 5 days. A naive group had only access to water. Ethanol intake was estimated throughoutthe experimentand cFos expression was evaluated in medial orbital cortex (MO), ventral orbital (VO), lateral orbital (LO), nucleus accumbens (NAc) and striatum. Treatment with either NTX or Aya (oral) did not decrease ethanol intake compared to the baseline level (5th to 7th week), but the NTX group intake was significantly lower than control (p