Major depressive disorder (MDD) continues to pose a major therapeutic challenge due to its clinical heterogeneity. This chapter looks at the development of antidepressant treatments, starting with early interventions such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs). Although these treatments t...
Background: Tramadol is a synthetic opioid analgesic prescribed for moderate pain. Psilocybin (4-phosphoryloxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine) is a naturally occurring psychoactive compound found in certain mushrooms, often referred to as "magic mushrooms" and is classified as a Schedule I substance. This case report aimed to present the unexpected detection of psil...
Emerging evidence suggests that classical psychedelics may offer therapeutic potential for opioid use disorder (OUD) by alleviating key hallmarks such as altered reward processing and dependence. However, the mechanisms behind these effects remain unclear. Our data demonstrate that a single administration of the psychedelic psilocybin (PSI) reduces condition...
BACKGROUND: Chronic pain affects nearly one in five adults worldwide and remains a major healthcare burden due to its persistence, multidimensional impact, and resistance to conventional therapies. The opioid crisis has further highlighted the urgent need for safer and more effective alternatives. Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic compound, has re-emerg...
Opioid-related overdose deaths have reached record high levels, and novel treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD) are needed. The three United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved medications for OUD function primarily at the mu-opioid receptor. While these remain the gold-standard treatment for OUD, they have shortcomings and treatment option...
BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a debilitating health condition that is associated with significant morbidity and mortality in the U.S. While preliminary studies have demonstrated that psilocybin is associated with lowered odds of OUD, current research in this domain suffers from a lack of investigation into the impact of race/ethnicity on this asso...
After decades of limited progress in depression treatment, recent advancements have sparked renewed interest in developing novel antidepressants, particularly rapid-acting antidepressants (RAADs). Despite these promising developments, there remains a significant gap in research on bipolar depression. While several antipsychotics have been investigated for th...
Epilepsy, a chronic neurological disorder affecting around 65 million people globally, is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked epileptic seizures. Psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, a well-known psychedelic compound, has recently gained attention for its potential antidepressant and anxiolytic properties. This study aims to investigate the anti...
Psychedelic drugs, known for their perception-altering properties, are gaining popularity in the treatment of mental health and pain disorders. As exploratory studies demonstrate clinical efficacy with few adverse events, it is expected that more patients will ingest psychedelic drugs. For therapeutic reasons, as with any drug, anaesthesiologists must be awa...
This work utilized fMRI to assess the influence of the psychedelics, Psilocybin, a serotonergic agonist, and Salvinorin-A, a kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) agonist, on functional connectivity (FC) in non-human primates. We used a seed-based FC analysis, probing regions of interest associated with psychedelic hallucinogens. Our findings highlight the overlapping...
Introduction Since the last edition of the Black Book, several innovative agents have been approved or are poised to be approved in the coming year. These include novel antidepressants, the first muscarine agonist for the treatment of schizophrenia, the first psychedelic which may be approved for the treatment of PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder), and th...
The extent of changes in functional connectivity (FC) within functional networks as a common feature across hallucinogenic drug classes is under-explored. This work utilized fMRI to assess the dissociative hallucinogens Psilocybin, a classical serotonergic psychedelic, and Salvinorin-A, a kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) agonist, on resting-state FC in nonhuman p...
Introduction: Psilocybin is a naturally occurring tryptamine derivative psychedelic compound potently produced by fungi members of the genus Psilocybe. Previous literature has highlighted psilocybin as a serotonin 2A receptor agonist with striking effects on neural plasticity and cognition. Recent studies explore the usage of psilocybin in addressing addicti...
Preclinical and human studies indicate psilocybin may reduce perseverant maladaptive behaviors, including nicotine and alcohol seeking. Such studies in the opioid field are lacking, though opioids are involved in more >50% of overdose deaths. Psilocybin is an agonist at the serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2A R), a well-documented target for modulation of drug see...
A “UK first” trial will investigate whether psilocybin - the active ingredient in ‘magic mushrooms’ - can help prevent relapse in people recovering from opioid addiction. The psilocybin study, led by researchers at Imperial College London, will involve 28 participants who have recently undergone detoxification from ‘street’ opioids. Participants will receive...
Background: Psilocybin has demonstrated promising clinical outcomes for nicotine and alcohol use disorders, yet its potential clinical utility in the treatment of opioid use disorder (OUD) remains unreported in modern literature. This technical report presents methodological considerations and preliminary data from a safety-feasibility trial examining the in...
Chronic pain is a public health concern that affects approximately 1.5 billion people globally. Conventional therapeutic agents including opioid and non-opioid analgesics have been associated with adverse side effects, issues with addiction, and ineffective analgesia. Novel agents repurposed to treat pain via different mechanisms are needed to fill the thera...
Depression is a major public health concern. Unfortunately, the present antidepressants often are insufficiently effective, whilst the discovery of more effective antidepressants has been extremely sluggish. The objective of this review was to combine the literature on depression with the pharmacology of antidepressant compounds, in order to formulate a conc...
