The use of low sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics (“microdosing”) has gained popularity in recent years. Although anecdotal reports claim multiple benefits associated with this practice, the lack of placebo-controlled studies limits our knowledge of microdosing and its effects. Moreover, research conducted in laboratory settings might fail to capture t...
The studies of psychedelics, especially psychedelic tryptamines like psilocybin, are rapidly gaining interest in neuroscience research. Much of this interest stems from recent clinical studies demonstrating that they have a unique ability to improve the debilitating symptoms of major depressive disorder (MDD) long-term after only a single treatment. Indeed, ...
Clinical studies suggest the therapeutic potential of psychedelics, including ayahuasca, DMT, psilocybin, and LSD, in stress-related disorders. These substances induce cognitive, antidepressant, anxiolytic, and antiaddictive effects suggested to arise from biological changes similar to conventional antidepressants or the rapid-acting substance ketamine. The ...
Cancer is not limited to the physical dimension, but it also affects the entire biopsychosocial context in which the patient is inserted, making him more susceptible to psychiatric disorders such as depression and anxiety. These often require pharmacological intervention, and the use of psilocybin, a substance found in mushroom species, is one of the alterna...
Purpose: During a pathological inflammation, macrophages are activated to produce accumulation of inflammatory mediators such as induced-cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), 15-lipoxygenase (15-LOX) and pro-inflammatory cytokines. Pathological inflammation is a significant problem in many chronic diseases. As a result, more research into natural remedies with anti-infl...
The Psilocybe genus is well known for the synthesis of valuable psychoactive compounds such as Psilocybin, Psilocin, Baeocystin and Aeruginascin. The ubiquity of Psilocybin synthesis in Psilocybe has been attributed to a horizontal gene transfer mechanism of a ~20Kb gene cassette. A recently published highly contiguous reference genome derived from long read...
Abstract Importance Psilocybin therapy shows antidepressant potential; our data link its antidepressant effects to decreased brain network modularity post-treatment. Objective To assess the sub-acute impact of psilocybin on brain activity in patients with depression. Design Pre vs post-treatment resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) was recorded in two trials:...
Hallucinogens are a loosely defined group of compounds including LSD, N,N-dimethyltryptamines, mescaline, psilocybin/psilocin, and 2,5-dimethoxy-4-methamphetamine (DOM), which can evoke intense visual and emotional experiences. We are witnessing a renaissance of research interest in hallucinogens, driven by increasing awareness of their psychotherapeutic pot...
Hallucinogenic mushroom is a kind of toxic strain containing psychoactive tryptamine substances such as psilocybin, psilocin and ibotenic acid, etc. The mushrooms containing hallucinogenic components are various, widely distributed and lack of standard to define, which made a great challenge to identification. Traditional identification methods, such as morp...
After a cessation of almost 40 years, there is renewed interest into therapeutic applicationsof the serotonergic psychedelic psilocybin for the treatment of patients with various psychiatric disorders. PubMed was searched for clinical trials into "psilocybin" between 2000 and 2020, complemented by handsearching. Articles were also screened for explanatory mo...
Classical psychedelics, primarily psilocybin and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), have been used and extensively studied in Western medicine as part of substance-assisted psychotherapy in the 1950s and 1960s. Modern clinical research is currently gaining momentum and provides new evidence for the safety and efficacy of classical psychedelics (primarily psil...
The idea of moral bio-enhancement has received considerable philosophical attention in the last 10 years. Yet, it has been extremely difficult to come up with plausible and feasible procedures for how to perform such enhancement. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the psychedelic compound psilocybin, due to its prosocial effects, can be used for...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has become a health crisis of epidemic proportions in the modern world. One in six individuals in the world is experiencing an episode of major depression in his or her lifetime, and it is estimated that major depression will rank second after cardiac disease as a cause of international medical morbidity by the year 2020. Depr...
Abstract Background: The misuse of illicit substances is associated with increased morbidity and mortality; thus, substance abuse is a global health concern. However, a lack of laboratory-based research has limited the scientific assessment of drug misuse in the Arabian Gulf region. Thus, the primary aim of this study was to assess the problem of illicit dru...
BACKGROUND: While cannabis has a long history of spiritual use, its normalization in Western societies during the last decades has led to more recreational use. This study aimed to explore the characteristics of spiritual cannabis use as compared to recreational use and to the use of psychedelics such as LSD and psilocybin. METHODS: The study employed a mixe...
