Evolutionary Considerations on the Emerging Subculture of the E-psychonauts and the Novel Psychoactive Substances: A Comeback to the Shamanism?

BACKGROUND: Evolutionary research on drug abuse has hitherto been restricted to proximate studies, considering aetiology, mechanism, and ontogeny. However, in order to explain the recent emergency of a new behavioral pattern (e.g. 'the e-psychonaut style') of novel psychoactive substances' (NPS) intake, a complementary evolutionary model may be needed. OBJECTIVE: A range of evolutionary interpretations on the 'psychonaut style' and the recent emergency of NPS were here considered. METHOD: The PubMed database was searched in order to elicit evolutionary theory-based documents commenting on NPS/NPS users/e-psychonauts. RESULTS: The traditional 'shamanic style' use of entheogens/plant-derived compounds may present with a range of similarities with the 'e-psychonauts' use of mostly of hallucinogen/psychedelic NPS. These users consider themselves as 'new/technological' shamans. CONCLUSION: Indeed, a range of evolutionary mechanisms, such as: optimal foraging, costly signaling, and reproduction at the expense of health may all cooperate to explain the recent spread and diffusion of the NPS market, and this may represent a reason of concern.

Inflammation alters somatostatin mRNA expression in sensory neurons in the rat.

Proinflammatory neuropeptides, such as substance P and calcitonin gene-related peptide, are up-regulated in primary afferent neurons in acute and chronic inflammation. While these neuropeptides have been intensively studied, potentially anti-inflammatory and/or anti-nociceptive neuropeptides such as somatostatin (SS) have been less widely investigated. Endogenous somatostatin is thought to exert a tonic antinociceptive effect. Exogenous SS is anti-inflammatory and antinociceptive and is thought to exert these actions through inhibition of proinflammatory neuropeptide release. In this study we have compared the expression of somatostatin in two inflammatory models: arthritis, a condition associated with increased nociception, and periodontitis, in which there is little evidence of altered nociceptive thresholds. In acute arthritis (< 24 h) SS mRNA was down-regulated in ipsilateral dorsal root ganglia (DRG; 52 +/- 7% of control, P < 0.05), and up-regulated in contralateral DRG (134 +/- 10% of control; P < 0.05). In chronic arthritis (14 days) this pattern of mRNA regulation was reversed, with SS being up-regulated ipsilaterally and down-regulated contralaterally. In chronic mandibular periodontitis (7-10 days), SS mRNA was up-regulated in only the mandibular division of the ipsilateral trigeminal ganglion (TG) (day 7, 219 +/- 9% and day 10, 217 +/- 12% of control; P < 0.02) but showed no change in other divisions of the trigeminal ganglion or in the mesencephalic nucleus. These data show that antinociceptive and anti-inflammatory neuropeptides are also regulated in inflammation. It is possible that the degree of inflammation and nociception seen may depend on the balance of pro- and anti-inflammatory and nociceptive peptide expression in a particular condition.