4-Hydroxytryptamines such as psilocin and its prodrug psilocybin are of considerable current interest for innovative antidepressant and other neuropsychiatric treatments. We here present a synthetic route towards 4-hydroxytryptamines displaying a high versatility for SAR exploration at the aliphatic nitrogen. The core concept is to apply HATU-mediated amide ...
Ketamine has transformed depression treatment by providing therapeutic relief within a single day, unlike monoaminergic antidepressants that require weeks to take effect. Here, we conducted whole-brain screening in mice to compare drug-evoked c-fos expression-acting as a marker of brain activity leading to protein synthesis-dependent forms of plasticity-foll...
This study examined patient perspectives on psilocybin therapy, specifically their acceptance and views on the therapeutic benefits of both hallucinogenic and non-hallucinogenic forms. A cross-sectional survey was conducted among psychiatric patients aged 18-65 at a community mental health center, assessing their attitudes, knowledge, and acceptance of psilo...
Psilocybin (active compound of "magic mushrooms") is a prototypical psychedelic substance that acts via agonism on serotonin (5-HT) 2A receptors. Psilocybin is rapidly metabolized into its active metabolite psilocin. Psilocybin is currently under investigation as potential treatment for various neuropsychiatric disorders. Psilocybin is also widely used for r...
BACKGROUND: The psychedelic psilocybin has been posited as efficacious for the treatment of depression. However, the potential link between the intensity of acute psychedelic effects and long-term therapeutic outcomes remains undiscovered. Moreover, the impact of classical antidepressant drugs that modulate serotonergic activity on psilocybin's effects is a ...
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...
RATIONALE: The head twitch response (HTR) is a spontaneously occurring behavior in mice that is increased in frequency by serotonergic psychedelics. The mouse HTR is often used as a proxy for psychedelic-like drug effects, but limited information is available about sex differences in HTRs evoked by various classes of psychedelics (i.e., phenethylamines, lyse...
This is an interventional, parallel arm assignment treatment study in individuals with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). Each individual will be treated with a single dose of pimavanserin or placebo plus a single dose of psilocybin. Evaluations will be taken before dosing and following dosing at several timepoints up to 5 weeks post-dosing. In this study, the...
Background Cluster headache is an excruciating condition for which standard treatments are usually insufficient. Evidence has accumulated that serotonergic psychedelic indoleamines including psilocybin and LSD can be effective in preventing attacks. Methods In this case series, nine patients with episodic and chronic cluster headache that didn’t respond to c...
Psychotherapy in combination with pharmacological treatments is often used to treat affective symptoms in patients with cancer. However, the effectiveness of the most commonly used medications is limited by the risk of adverse effects. Two placebo-controlled trials have found that patients with cancer-related psychiatric distress experienced rapid and susta...
Psilocybin therapy (PT) is emerging as an effective intervention for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), offering comparable efficacy to conventional treatments like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Music, an emotionally evocative stimulus, provides a valuable tool to explore changes in hedonic and predictive processing mechanisms via expectancy...
Serotonin 5-HT2A receptors were one of the first serotonin receptors to be pharmacologically characterized. In mammals, they are expressed throughout the body in nearly every cell and tissue type, with the highest density in cortical layer V of the brain. They are involved in several aspects of normal physiological processes and behaviors and have been impli...
OBJECTIVE: Psychedelics are able to trigger highly intense and profound alterations in self-consciousness, perception, affective, and cognitive processes. Indeed, recent studies show that ketamine and psilocybin could be used as fast-acting antidepressants. However, the molecular and neurochemical mechanisms of these psychedelics and their actions at the lev...
Summary Microdosing, the prolonged ingestion of psychedelics at sub-hallucinogenic doses, has gained popularity for its perceived cognitive and emotional benefits. Psychedelics have high affinity for 5-HT2B receptors, which cause heart disease with strong chronic activation. We investigated the effects of microdosed psychedelics on cardiovascular health in m...
Background and Hypothesis Visual hallucinations (VH) are a core symptom of both Lewy body diseases (LBDs; e.g., Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies) and serotonergic psychedelics (SPs; e.g., psilocybin and mescaline). While these classes of VH differ in etiology, shared pathways are suggested by overlapping phenomenology and neural mechanisms. ...
Background and HypothesisVisual hallucinations (VH) are a core symptom of both Lewy body diseases (LBDs; e.g., Parkinson’s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies) and serotonergic psychedelics (SPs; e.g., psilocybin and mescaline). While these classes of VH differ in etiology, shared pathways are suggested by overlapping phenomenology and neural mechanisms. T...
The primary objective of this study is to determine whether equivalent moderately high doses of LSD, psilocybin, and DMT produce qualitatively similar peak effects when the effect duration is standardized with ketanserin. A DMT infusion mimicking oral LSD and psilocybin administrations will be tested, as well as intravenously administered ketanserin. Lysergi...
