"There are hundreds of hallucinogenic mushrooms, and
Psilocybe cubensis (Earle) Strophariaceae is the most well known and used by humans since ancient times, owing to the fact that it grows easily. The psychotropic effects are given by the most important active principles,
psilocybin (
O-phosphoryl-4-hydroxy-
N,
N-dimethyltryptamine) and
psilocin (4-hydroxy-
N,
N-dimethyltryptamine). They are indol alkaloids derived from
tryptamine with potent agonist activity at 5-HT receptors and were identified in 1958 by the chemist Albert Hofmann (Kirsten & Bernardi, 2010)."
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