Aspectos Farmacológicos e Toxicológicos do Alcaloide N, N – Dimetiltriptamina (DMT)

N, N - dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a hallucinogenic alkaloid present in the leaves of Psychotria viridis, a plant widely used in teas that are ingested during some religious ritual, ayahuasca tea is one of the most known. Consider its similarity to the neurotransmitter serotonin (5-HT), DMT acts as an age-agonist at the 5-HT1A, 5-HT2A and 5-HT2C serotonergic receptors, causing several effects such as nausea, tremors and mood changes, some reports indicated system immune changes due to lower levels of CD3 and CD4 lymphocytes. However, recent researches has also pointed out the therapeutic effects of DMT, proving through in vivo tests its antitumor, antidepressant and anxiolytic potential, in addition it helps in the treatment against alcoholism and tobacco. Considering the increasement use of DMT teas, this work aims to describe its main pharmacological and toxicological effects due to limited references and the need to compile data dispersed in the literature. The present study concludes that DMT has potential pharmacological action, but also important adverse effects, including toxicity, which corroborates the need of doing more acute and chronic tests, in addition to epidemiological research focused on its action in which users use.