Neurological and psychiatric disorders are considered one of the major problems of today's societies and cause many individual and social problems. Current treatments are effective, but due to their burdens, there is always an effort to introduce novel treatments. Psychedelics, a diverse group of psychoactive compounds, including LSD, psilocybin, DMT, MDMA, ...
Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, has emerged as a promising treatment for a range of mental health conditions, including anorexia nervosa. Recent insights from animal models and human imaging studies suggest psilocybin enhances cognitive flexibility and modifies reward processing - two core processes disrupted in anorexia nervosa. Both cognitive flexi...
4-bromo-2,5-dimethoxyphenethylamine (2C-B) is a psychoactive substance with reportedly similar acute effects to both the prototypical empathogen 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, Ecstasy) and the classic psychedelic substance psilocybin (contained in "magic, hallucinogenic mushrooms"). Pharmacologically, MDMA mainly releases serotonin (5-HT) via the s...
Brain aging (BA) processes are complex, often affect multiple systems, and frequently lead to cognitive decline and increased susceptibility to insults. BA appears to be a primary risk for the development of many prominent neurodegenerative pathologies. The US Census Bureau predicts that the aging population (65+) will represent a greater proportion of the U...
Molecular brain imaging by positron emission tomography (PET) and single photon emission computer-tomography (SPECT) entails the mapping of the cerebral distribution of radiopharmaceuticals that track physiological processes such as blood perfusion and glucose metabolism, or the abundance in brain of specific molecular targets such as neuroreceptors. PET and...
Antidepressants including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, ketamine, and psilocybin are all effective for treating depression despite their distinct primary mechanisms. We hypothesized that these drugs may share a common mechanism that underlies their therapeutic actions. We treated mice with one of the following: escitalopram, R- / S -/ RS- ketamine...
Abstract Objectives The first line for symptom management of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a class of medications that act on dopamine and noradrenaline receptors, which leads to symptom reduction at the cost of significant side effects. These side effects have led to community searching for alternative methods that manage ADHD symptoms ...
In the contemporary landscape of psychiatric medicine, critical advancements have been noted in the utilization of psychoactive substances such as hallucinogens, 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), and ketamine for the treatment of severe mental health disorders. This review provides a detailed evaluation of these substances, focusing on their mechanis...
Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic mental disease that affects approximately 2% of the population. Obsessions and compulsions are troublesome for patients and may disturb their everyday activities. The pathogenesis of this disease is still not fully elucidated, but dysfunctions of serotonin-, dopamine- and glutamate-mediated neurotransmission t...
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...
Data on medication interactions with psychedelics are limited. Here we present what may be the first published report of a hypertensive emergency following the combination of psilocybin mushrooms with a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI). A42-year-old man with treatment-resistant major depressive disorder took 1 g of Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms, while presc...
There is controversy about a causal role of serotonin (5-HT) in depression, some arguing that there is no proof for impaired brain 5-HT function in depressed patients. Major depressive disorder comes with multiple endophenotypes; not surprisingly classical antidepressants (tricyclics, MAO inhibitors, SSRIs, SNRIs) are not universally effective. Most antidepr...
The use of psilocybin to treat alcohol use disorder is very promising, but its mechanisms of action remain poorly understood. We combined behavioural, pharmacological and gene expression analyses to decipher the mechanisms of action of psilocybin, for the first time, when injected into the brain. Male Long Evans rats underwent chronic operant ethanol self-ad...
Background: Psychedelic drugs have recently emerged as plausibly effective pharmacological agents for the management of depression, anxiety, and other neuropsychiatric conditions, including conditions that have not benefited from prior interventions. The latter half of the twentieth century marked a revolution in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and psy...
Background: Psychedelic drugs have recently emerged as plausibly effective pharmacological agents for the management of depression, anxiety, and other neuropsychiatric conditions, including conditions that have not benefited from prior interventions. The latter half of the twentieth century marked a revolution in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and psy...
Pathophysiology of depression is related with reduced volume of the hippocampus and amygdala and hypertrophy of the nucleus accumbens. The mechanism of these changes is not well under-stood, but clinical studies have shown that administration of the fast-acting antidepressant keta-mine reversed the decrease in hippocampus and amygdala volume in depressed pat...
Alzheimer's disease (AD), the most common form of senile dementia, is poised to place an even greater societal and healthcare burden as the population ages. With few treatment options for the symptomatic relief of the disease and its unknown etiopathology, more research into AD is urgently needed. Psychedelic drugs target AD-related psychological pathology a...
BACKGROUND: The emergence of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), including synthetic psilocybin, has raised concern among health experts due to the numerous health and socioeconomic consequences. The current trend is shifting to the hazardous use of synthetic psilocybin in vaping, and little is known about the prevalence of use, specifically among amphetamine...
Introduction Psilocybin is one of the most extensively studied psychedelic drugs with a broad therapeutic potential. Despite the fact that its psychoactivity is mainly attributed to the agonism at 5-HT2A receptors, it has high binding affinity also to 5-HT2C and 5-HT1A receptors and indirectly modulates the dopaminergic system. Psilocybin and its active meta...
