While surfing the web I found a page that (in very complex scientific jargon) basically states that throughout the brain there are receptors specifically meant for the chemical found in the Amanita Muscaria mushroom. This mushroom has been used for thousands of years in Shamanic ceremonies as a potent "psychedelic" sacrament.

The nicotinic receptors also correspond with the chemical nicotine, stimulating parts of the brain that only that chemical can stimulate. That's why nicotine hooks people so much, it's built into the human brain, and once that receptor becomes stimulated a reaction happens and once that reaction happens over a certain period of time the brain expects it to happen again and thus craving begins. For all you smokers out there, that's where the cravings come from. It's not going to kill you to stop smoking, the brain will adjust. The cravings are the reasons the tobacco industries make so much money off of all of you.

For anyone interested, this all takes place in the "acetylcholine system" in the brain.

"Muscarinic receptors

Acetylcholine and carbamylcholine can bind to both muscarinic and nicotinic receptors, yet the responses elicited by activating each receptor differ in several ways. Muscarinic responses are slower, may produce excitation or inhibition and involve second messenger systems, rather than the direct opening of an ion channel. Muscarinic receptors are G protein-coupled receptors and mediate their responses by activating a cascade of intracellular pathways. Muscarine is the prototypical muscarinic agonist and derives from the fly agaric mushroom Amanita muscaria. Like acetylcholine, muscarine contains a quaternary nitrogen important for action at the anionic site of the receptor (an aspartate residue in transmembrane domain III). Most muscarinic agonists obey the "rule of five" atoms from the quateranry ammonium moiety to the terminal atom.


Muscarinic receptors are found in the parasympathetic nervous system. Muscarinic receptors in smooth muscle regulate cardiac contractions, gut motility and bronchial constriction. Muscarinic receptors in exocrine glands stimulate gastric acid secretion, salivation and lacrimation. Muscarinic receptors also are found in the superior cervical ganglion where they can produce at least two physiologically distinct responses. In addition, muscarinic receptors are found throughout the brain, including the cerebral cortex, the striatum, the hippocampus, thalamus and brainstem."