ABSTRACT Psychedelics such as psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) exert hallucinogenic effects through stimulation of serotonin 5-HT2A receptors (5-HT2ARs) in the cerebral cortex. In recent years, numerous reports have demonstrated that psychedelics are effective in treating various psychiatric disorders such as major depressive disorder (MDD), t...
A Phase 1 trial comprising 15 patients has found that repeated high-dose administration of psilocybin was more effective than low-dose psilocybin or placebo in reducing symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Psilocybin was generally well-tolerated, with no reports of serious adverse events.
BackgroundAnorexia nervosa is a debilitating eating disorder with high mortality and chronicity rates owing to the paucity of effective existing treatments. Several clinical trials using psilocybin therapy have demonstrated therapeutic efficacy and safety in psychiatric conditions, including anorexia nervosa.AimsThis study aimed to further assess the safety,...
Classic serotonergic psychedelics such as psilocybin act as agonists at cortical serotonin (5-HT) 2A receptors (5-HT2AR), inducing psychedelic effects in humans and head-twitch responses (HTRs) in rodents. Another class of psychedelic drugs called entactogens, exemplified by MDMA, function primarily as monoamine releasers and typically evoke minimal HTR desp...
Psilocybin is a rapid-acting antidepressant, but its mechanism of action in major depressive disorder remains unclear. In this secondary analysis of randomized, placebo-controlled trial with multimodal CSF and blood biomarker measurements, psilocybin selectively reduced CSF galanin and noradrenaline, implicating that normalization of these co-transmitters is...
This is a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled Phase 2 mechanistic clinical trial designed to evaluate the therapeutic neural mechanisms of psilocybin in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD), and to determine whether further studies are warranted to study the relationship of any such effects to clinical improvement in AUD symptoms. The primary ai...
BackgroundExistential distress is commonly experienced by people with cancer, yet there are limited treatment options. The therapeutic potential for psychedelic-assisted therapy (PAT) utilising psilocybin for this cohort is underexplored, with emerging literature showing clinical improvements in wellbeing. In Australia there is limited knowledge on healthcar...
The Psilocybe cubensis mushroom is recognized as the primary source of psilocybin in the Americas, occurring naturally across various regions. This fungus has a long history of use in Mesoamerican rituals due to its capacity to induce altered states of consciousness. The defining characteristic of Psilocybe mushrooms is their psilocybin content. Following in...
Pupil diameter is a non-invasive biomarker of brain state, correlating with arousal, attention, cognitive processing, and consciousness. However, existing pupillometry software often lacks scalability and robustness across diverse experimental conditions and species. We introduce Pupil-DLC, an open-source, offline, DeepLabCut-based pipeline for scalable, mar...
Naturally derived psilocybin is widely used, yet its therapeutic potential, pharmacological distinctiveness and regulatory feasibility remain understudied. This review evaluates the potential of naturally derived psilocybin using a six-criterion framework to evaluate: (1) therapeutic benefit, (2) safety and tolerability, (3) pharmacological uniqueness vs. sy...
Abstract Despite growing interest in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy, research investigating the psychotherapeutic components is lacking. This leaves unanswered questions regarding the psychotherapy's necessity and form. This observational study addresses this gap by measuring the outcomes of a psilocybin truffle retreat, followed by the outcomes of two p...
Psilocybin-producing mushrooms exhibit considerable biochemical diversity, yet the extent of variability among strains within a single species under standardized conditions remains insufficiently characterized. In this study, we quantified psilocybin, psilocin, baeocystin, norbaeocystin, aeruginascin, and norpsilocin in the fruiting bodies of 14 distinct str...
ObjectiveEating disorders (EDs) are characterized by high rates of psychiatric comorbidity and suboptimal treatment outcomes. There remain critical gaps in research, including the exploration of effective transdiagnostic interventions. This forum article examines the potential of psilocybin treatment (PT) as a transdiagnostic intervention for EDs and common ...
This study is exploring how psilocybin (a psychedelic drug) may improve mood and wellbeing. Many people report feeling better after taking psilocybin, but it is not clear why. The CoPEWell study will test whether these improvements come from the psychedelic experience itself (the "trip") or from direct effects on the brain. To study this, up to 120 participa...
The fungivore-deterrence hypothesis, that psilocybin evolved as a chemical defence against arthropod fungivores via 5-HT receptor agonism, has become the working consensus in fungal chemical ecology, despite resting on a phylogenomic pattern of horizontal gene transfer among saprotrophs and remarkably little direct experimental evidence. Recent biochemistry ...
Interest has grown in the effects of psilocybin on mental health, but little is known about its naturalistic use alongside alcohol and its relationship to depression and/or anxiety symptoms. Data from the nationally-representative 2024 National Survey Investigating Hallucinogenic Trends of participants who did ( n = 1234) or did not ( n = 1607) report past-y...
RationaleInterest in psychedelic drugs has increased rapidly because of their potential therapeutic role in psychiatric disorders. Impairments in the sociocognitive skills needed to build and maintain social relationships are prominent features of many psychiatric and neurodevelopmental disorders. Emerging evidence suggests that compounds such as 3,4-methyle...
Up to 40% of individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD) experience depression, which increases the risk of early relapse. Depression can cause relapse to occur 3 times faster in individuals with AUD who experience depressive symptoms at discharge. No treatments have been approved for individuals with both AUD and depression. Psilocybin, a psychedelic, shows...
