Insights into the pineal and related bio-chemistry

Introduction
Testosterone and Neural Dysfunction
Some insights into the pineal and related bio-chemistry
Bio-chemistry overview and a bit on sleep
Some more thoughts on bipedalism

Short excerpts from

Recent findings relating to the possible role of the pineal gland in affecting psychic ability. S.M. Roney-Dougal. Journal of the Society for Psychical Research April 1989. Vol.55, no.815.
 
(A few notes on pineal production of 6-methoxy-tetrahydrobetacarboline its links to DMT production in the brain and effects on juvenility etc. ECR. )

'The pineal synthesises and releases melatonin, and perhaps other hormones in response to norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter released from its post-ganglionic sympathetic nerves. As such, the pineal is a neuroendocrine transducer like the adrenal medulla. The rate at which norepinephrine is released declines when light activates retinal photoreceptors and increases when the sympathetic nervous system is stimulated. The pineal contains a pair of enzymes hydroxyindole- O-methyl transferase (HIOMT) and indole-N-methyl transferase (INMT) which are able to convert serotonin into a number of potent hallucinogens (Most, 1986). If you increase the concentration of pineal serotonin and block its normal enzymatic inactivation, it becomes a substrate for other pineal enzymes, like HIOMT and INMT which are methyl transfer enzymes that catalyse the transfer of a methyl group from one compound to another. Thus serotonin can be converted to, for example, 5-methoxy-N,N-dymethyl tryptamine by these enzymes, a hallucinogen similar to DMT found in cawa which the Amazonian Indians add to their Banisteriopsis brew (Most,1986)

Beta-carbolines

Also associated with serotonin and melatonin in the pineal gland and retina is another class of compounds called beta-carbolines, which are endogenously produced in the pineal gland and which if taken orally in large quantities, are potent hallucinogens. Could this be the neuro-chemical trigger that stimulates neuronal thresholds to a psi-conductive state, whatever that may be? Beta-carbolines are neuromodulators in the sense of playing an important role in fine-tuning of the actions of neurotransmitters. Their main action is inhibition of monoamine oxidase A, which breaks down serotonin and noradrenaline. That is they prevent the breakdown of these neurotransmitters and so cause a build up of them in the synapses. It is this action that is the chemical concomitant of hallucinogens (Rimon et al., 1984)

Sexuality

In animals and in humans the pineal appears to produce a hormone which works, together with the pituitary, to inhibit gonadal development and to regulate the onset of sexuality, either at puberty in humans, or on a seasonal basis in animals. The pineal normally starts a process of calcification at puberty (Ng & Wong, 1986; Vaughan & Reiter, 1986)

It has been shown that the foetus can synthesise and store melatonin. Reppert et al. (1988) believe that melatonin from the mother crosses the placenta and drives foetal rhythms, since the biological clock works rhythmically even before the optic nerves are fully developed. During pregnancy the diurnal rise in plasma melatonin appears enhanced as pregnancy progresses, supporting the idea for a role in maternal pineal in entraining foetal rhythms. Melatonin levels are exceptionally high at birth (Matthews, 1981). Similarly the concentration of beta-carbolines seem to decrease with age, and 6-MeOTHBC fed to young male rats inhibited the development of genital organs. In female rats in high doses it made the dioestrus longer or totally abolished the oestrus. In smaller doses the weight of ovaries, uterus and the pituitary decreased (Airaksinen & Kari, 1981).