In the early 1960s, ibogaine was accidentally discovered to cause sudden and complete interruption of heroin addiction without withdrawal within 24 hours(Goutarel, n.d.; Alper, 2001; Krupitsky et al., 2002; Freedlander, n.d.)
From : Alper, K. R. (2001). Ibogaine: a review. ALKALOIDS-NEW YORK-ACADEMIC PRESS-, 56, 2-38.
The French chemist Robert Goutarel (14) hypothesized that ibogaine treatment
involves a state with functional aspects shared by the brain states of REM sleep,
Goutarel suggested that a REM-like
state may be induced by ibogaine, which corresponds to a window of heightened
neural plasticity, during which there may be weakening of the pathological
linkages between cues and representations of the drug incentive and the motivational
states with which they have become paired (14). Analogous to the
reconsolidation of learned information that is thought to occur during the REM
state (192,193), Goutarel theorized that the pathological learning of addiction was
modified during ibogaine treatment. He appears to have based his theoretical
formulation mainly on reports of the phenomenological experiences of awake
ibogaine-treated subjects that share features in common with dreams. Goutarel’s
hypothesis is speculative, but nonetheless has an interesting apparent consistency
with the literature on the relationship of learning and addiction and the
physiologic function of the REM EEG state with regard to the consolidation of
learned information.
There is some evidence that may be viewed as consistent with Goutarel’s
hypothesis. Goutarel’s belief in a relationship of the ibogaine-treated EEG state
to that of REM is supported by studies in animals treated with ibogaine that report
an apparently activated or desynchronized EEG state consistent with arousal,
vigilance, or REM sleep (90,191). The observation that ibogaine enhanced an
atropine-sensitive theta frequency rhythm (191) suggests the possible
involvement of ascending cholinergic input, which is an essential determinant of
EEG desynchronization during REM sleep (192). The possible reconsolidation of
learned information due to heightened plasticity during both the REM and
ibogaine-induced desynchronized EEG states is suggested by the observation that
EEG dyssynchrony is associated with an increased facilitation of Hebbian
covariance (194), which is believed to be an important determinant of the neural
plasticity involved in consolidation of learning and memory. Also, with regard to
a possible analogy of the REM and ibogaine induced brain states, some ibogaine
treatment guides have anecdotally mentioned that they have observed REM-like
eye movements in awake patients during treatments (195,196).
