A psychoactive indole alkaloid, ibogaine, has been evaluated in several laboratories for its properties as an anti-addictive drug. However in animal studies, exposure to ibogaine has been associated with neurotoxic side effects. In our study, spectral analysis of the ECoG in rats injected with cocaine HCl alone (20 mg/kg, i.p. ), or pretreated with ibogaine (50 mg/kg), followed one hour later by cocaine, revealed that administration of cocaine alone was associated only with a significant power increase in the alpha1 frequency band during the first 30 min postinjection. The alpha1 increase was maintained throughout recording when cocaine was injected after ibogaine pretreatment. The spectral pattern obtained after ibogaine/cocaine treatment showed increased power in the low frequency bands and enhancement of power in the alpha1 band, indicating the contribution of the serotonergic system in the ibogaine-mediated response to cocaine. The enhancement of power observed in low frequency bands after the combined treatment with ibogaine/cocaine suggests that ibogaine at high doses decreases the threshold for cocaine-induced seizures [5].
