Classic psychedelics alter sense of self and patterns of self-related thought. These changes are hypothesised to underlie their therapeutic efficacy across internalising pathologies such as addiction and depression. Using resting-state functional MRI images from a randomised, double blinded, placebo-controlled clinical trial of 24 healthy adults under 0.215m...
The purpose of this study is to investigate the prophylactic effects of psilocybin in chronic cluster headache. Subjects will receive a low dose of psilocybin during 3 sessions spaced by one week. Subjects will maintain a headache diary prior to, during, and after the administrations in order to document headache frequency, intensity and duration. Subjects w...
To understand how pharmacological interventions can exert their powerful effects on brain function, we need to understand how they engage the brain’s rich neurotransmitter landscape. Here, we bridge microscale molecular chemoarchitecture and pharmacologically-induced macroscale functional reorganisation, by relating the regional distribution of 19 neurotrans...
Depression is common at the end of life, and there is longstanding concern that it may affect terminally ill patients' decisions to request physician-assisted death (PAD). However, it is difficult for clinicians to determine the role of depression in a patient's PAD request. A recent case series described rapid responses to intranasal ketamine in three patie...
Chronic cluster headache (CCH) is an excruciating disorder of unknown pathophysiology, but hypothalamic dysfunction has been implicated. CCH is difficult to treat but on a case-basis, the psychedelic compound psilocybin is said to have beneficial effects. In this first-ever clinical trial ( NCT04280055 ), we evaluate in a small open-label study of CCH patien...
BackgroundClassic psychedelics, such as psilocybin and LSD, and other serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT2AR) agonists evoke acute alterations in perception and cognition. Altered thalamocortical connectivity has been hypothesized to underlie these effects, which is supported by some functional MRI (fMRI) studies. These studies have treated the thalamus as a unitary...
Current medications have not been effective in reducing the prevalence of mental illness worldwide. The prevalence of illnesses such as treatment-resistant depression has increased despite the widespread use of a broad set of psychopharmaceuticals. Transcranial magnetic stimulation and ketamine therapy are making great strides in improving treatment-resistan...
The main goal is to compare the antidepressant effects of psilocybin and ketamine in patients with TRD versus the antidepressant inactive substance midazolam. The primary endpoint will be the antidepressant effect on the Montgomery- Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) 24 hours after treatment, the key secondary endpoints being the duration of antidepressa...
Effects of serotonin 2A/1A receptor stimulation by psilocybin on mood and emotion processing in major depressive disorder: a randomized double-blind placebo-controlled study Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the world's greatest contributor to the global burden of disease and MDD affects around 17% of the Swiss population (Tomonaga et al. 2013). It i...
The use of psilocybin as treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD) has been examined as a promising alternative to traditional first-line options. We reviewed existing literature to provide a synthesis of the extant neuroimaging observations with psilocybin, and to identify putative therapeutic targets for target engagement studies with psilocybin, and p...
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocybin are serotonergic psychedelic compounds with potential in the treatment of mental health disorders. Past neuroimaging investigations have revealed that both compounds can elicit significant changes to whole-brain functional organization and dynamics. A recent proposal linked past findings into a unified model an...
ABSTRACT Background Serotonin 2A receptor (5-HT 2AR ) agonist psychedelics including psilocybin and LSD (“classic” psychedelics) evoke acute alterations in perception and cognition. Altered thalamocortical connectivity has been proposed to underlie these effects, which is supported by some functional MRI (fMRI) studies. Likely due to sample size limitations,...
Psilocybin (a serotonin 2A, or 5-HT2A, receptor agonist) has shown preliminary efficacy as a treatment for mood and substance use disorders. The current report utilized positron emission tomography (PET) with the selective 5-HT2A receptor inverse agonist radioligand [11C]MDL100,907 (a.k.a. M100,907) and cortical regions of interest (ROIs) derived from restin...
Serotonin 2A receptor (5-HTR) agonist "classic psychedelics" are drawing increasing interest as potential mental health treatments. Recent work suggests psychedelics can exert persisting anxiolytic and antidepressant effects lasting up to several months after a single administration. Data indicate acute subjective drug effects as important psychological fact...
Preliminary evidence supports the use of psychedelics for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, less attention has been given to the neural mechanisms behind their effects. We conducted a systematic review examining the neuroimaging correlates of antidepressant response following psychedelic interventions for MDD. Through MEDLINE, Embase, and APA PsycINF...
Background Psilocin, the neuroactive metabolite of psilocybin, is a serotonergic psychedelic that induces an acute altered state of consciousness, evokes lasting changes in mood and personality in healthy individuals, and has potential as an antidepressant treatment. Examining the acute effects of psilocin on resting-state dynamic functional connectivity imp...
Basic pain research has shed light on key cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying nociceptive and phenomenological aspects of pain. Despite these advances, we still yearn for the discovery of novel therapeutic strategies to address the unmet needs of about 70 % of chronic neuropathic pain patients whose pain fails to respond to opioids as well as to oth...
Psilocybin has shown promise for the treatment of mood disorders, which are often accompanied by cognitive dysfunction including cognitive rigidity. Recent studies have proposed neuropsychoplastogenic effects as mechanisms underlying the enduring therapeutic effects of psilocybin. In an open-label study of 24 patients with major depressive disorder, we teste...
Serotonergic psychedelics are recently gaining a lot of attention as a potential treatment of several neuropsychiatric disorders. Broadband desynchronization of EEG activity and disconnection in humans have been repeatedly shown; however, translational data from animals are completely lacking. Therefore, the main aim of our study was to assess the effects of...
