ABSTRACT
Among the Aztecs, the three main spiritual centers were the head region (tonalli), the heart region (teyolia), and the region of the liver (ihiyotl). According to traditional Aztec beliefs, an accumulation of phlegm in the chest, for example, could cause insanity, stupidity, or epilepsy by affecting the teyolia (López 1971, Ortiz 1975). The causes of, and remedies for, some
1Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Oriente, IMSS. 2Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. 3Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría. Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz. Dirección de Investigaciones en Neurociencias. 4Unidad de Investigación Médica en Enfermedades Neurológicas, Hospital de Especialidades Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, IMSS. Av. Cuauhtémoc 330 Col. Doctores, 06720, México DF. México (52) (55) 5578-0240. aE-mail: sorozco5@hotmail.com 5Universidad Estatal del Valle de Ecatepec, México. *Corresponding author
diseases were sought by means of consultation with the spiritual world. Indeed, the Aztecs frequently used certain plants with hallucinogenic powers to change sensory perceptions and lead individuals to believe that they had traveled to other worlds where they were among the gods and were able to obtain information about the cause of a disease and its remedies (Obiols and López 1975). The majority of plants that have been utilized as entheogens (i.e., substances that, upon ingestion, produce divine experiences) contain alkaloids that act on the nervous system in such a manner that the senses are altered and sensitized when confronted with distinct stimuli (Shultes and Hofmann 1982).
