Ibotenic acid

Ibotenic acid (ibotenate) is a chemical compound that occurs naturally in Amanita muscaria and related species of mushroom. Due to its similarity to the neurotransmitter glutamic acid, ibotenic acid is a powerful neurotoxin that is used as a "brain-lesioning agent" and has shown to be highly neurotoxic when injected directly into the brains of mice and rats.

Psychopharmacology


Unlike muscimol, the principal psychoactive constituent of Amanita muscaria, which is understood to cause sedation and dissociation, ibotenic acid's psychoactive effects are not known independent of its serving as a prodrug to muscimol.

Use in research
Ibotenic acid is used as a brain-lesioning agent in the research environment. When injected intracranially, ibotenic acid causes the development of excitotoxic lesions of the brain. This method of experimental brain lesioning may be preferable in certain circumstances because, while it destroys neuron bodies in a particular area, tracts that cross through the target nucleus are not damaged.

Name
"Ibotenic" comes from the Japanese name for the Amanita strobiliformis mushroom, iboten(gutake), from which it was first isolated.