Translational Psychiatry
May 26, 2026
Marvin M. Urban, Lea Zillich, Nathalie M. Rieser et al.
1 citation
The serotonergic hallucinogen psilocybin has shown potential as a treatment for psychiatric conditions like alcohol use disorder (AUD) and depression in clinical studies. Epigenetic mechanisms, including DNA methylation, are hypothesized to contribute to its lasting therapeutic benefits. In this exploratory study, we present the first methylome-wide analysis of psilocybin-induced changes in a...
Research Square
March 31, 2026
Marcus W. Meinhardt, Ivan Skorodumov, Florian Walter et al.
Abstract Alcohol use disorder is a major global health problem, and current treatments often fail to produce lasting reductions in harmful drinking1,2. Psychedelic-assisted therapies may promote durable behavioural change by enhancing brain plasticity during emotionally meaningful experiences, but progress has been limited by a lack of experimental models that capture these context-dependent...
Elife
March 27, 2026
Målin Schmidt, Anne Hoffrichter, Mahnaz Davoudi et al.
3 citations
Psilocybin is studied as innovative medication in anxiety, substance abuse and treatment-resistant depression. Animal studies show that psychedelics promote neuronal plasticity by strengthening synaptic responses and protein synthesis. However, the exact molecular and cellular changes induced by psilocybin in the human brain are not known. Here, we treated human cortical neurons derived from...
Psychopharmacology
November 15, 2025
Elisabetta Ciccocioppo, Sara Massetti, Marcus W. Meinhardt et al.
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) represents a significant medical challenge, with available therapeutic approaches having limited efficacy. Emerging data suggest that psychedelic compounds could represent an alternative treatment for AUD. Among this class of molecules, ketamine, a dissociative psychedelic, shows promising properties. It reduces alcohol drinking in rodents and in humans it is used to...
Current Topics in Behavioral Neurosciences
July 12, 2025
Wolfgang H. Sommer, Rainer Spanagel
Over a decade after the first edition of "Behavioral Neurobiology of Alcohol Addiction," this chapter revisits the field at a critical juncture, marked by both persistent challenges and emerging opportunities. We reflect on the translational gap that has stalled the development of new treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD), despite decades of promising preclinical findings. Particular...
Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 1, 2025
Marcus W. Meinhardt, Ivan Skorodumov, Jérôme Jeanblanc et al.
8 citations
The drug development process in psychiatry faces significant challenges due to low reproducibility rates in animal testing, which often leads to translation failures. To address this issue, we introduce a new approach in psychiatric drug development: a preclinical randomized controlled trial (preRCT). To demonstrate its potential utility, we conducted a multi-center preRCT using the alcohol...
Translational Psychiatry
December 5, 2024
Bettina Habelt, Dzmitry Afanasenkau, Cindy Schwarz et al.
6 citations
Patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) who seek treatment show highly variable outcomes. A precision medicine approach with biomarkers responsive to new treatments is warranted to overcome this limitation. Promising biomarkers relate to prefrontal control mechanisms that are severely disturbed in AUD. This results in reduced inhibitory control of compulsive behavior and, eventually, relapse....
Neuroscience
November 1, 2024
Veronika Pohořalá, Martin Kuchař, Rainer Spanagel et al.
3 citations
There are currently no pharmacological treatments for cocaine use disorder. Recently there has been a great deal of interest in the potential of psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin to treat psychiatric disorders. Human studies have indicated that a single administration of psilocybin can have long-lasting effects. Few preclinical studies have examined a role for psilocybin in addiction models....
Research Square
June 7, 2024
Målin Schmidt, Anne Hoffrichter, Mahnaz Davoudi et al.
5 citations
Abstract Psilocybin is studied as innovative medication in anxiety, substance abuse and treatment-resistant depression. Animal studies show that psychedelics promote neuronal plasticity by strengthening synaptic responses and protein synthesis. However, the exact molecular and cellular changes induced by psilocybin in the human brain are not known. Here, we treated human cortical neurons...
Research Square
February 22, 2024
Bettina Habelt, Dzmitry Afanasenkau, Cindy Schwarz et al.
Abstract Current treatments for alcohol use disorder (AUD) show large heterogeneity in response and thus limited effectiveness and high relapse rates. A precision medicine approach with biomarkers responsive to new treatments is warranted to overcome this limitation. Promising biomarkers relate to prefrontal control mechanisms that are severely disturbed in AUD. This results in reduced...
Translational Psychiatry
December 14, 2023
Ivan Skorodumov, Rainer Spanagel, Jonathan R Reinwald et al.
25 citations
Abstract Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) adversely affects the lives of millions of people, but still lacks effective treatment options. Recent advancements in psychedelic research suggest psilocybin to be potentially efficacious for AUD. However, major knowledge gaps remain regarding (1) psilocybin’s general mode of action and (2) AUD-specific alterations of responsivity to psilocybin treatment in...
European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience
November 7, 2023
Ana-Maria Iorgu, Andrei-Nicolae Vasilescu, Natascha Pfeiffer et al.
2 citations
Abstract S-ketamine, a N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, and psilocybin, a 5-hydroxy-tryptamine (serotonin) 2A receptor (5-HT 2A R) agonist, are reported as effective rapid-acting antidepressants. Both compounds increase glutamate signalling and evoke cortical hyperexcitation. S-ketamine induces neurotoxicity especially in the retrosplenial cortex (Olney’s lesions). Whether...
Science Advances
November 17, 2021
Marcus W. Meinhardt, Simone Pfarr, Grégory Fouquet et al.
92 citations
Alcohol-induced mGluR2 deficits are restored by psilocybin, resulting in a rescue of pathological behaviors in alcoholism.
Neuropsychopharmacology
May 5, 2020
Marcus W. Meinhardt, Cansu Güngör, Ivan Skorodumov et al.
66 citations
For most psychiatric disorders, including alcohol use disorder (AUD), approved pharmacological treatments are limited in their effectiveness, and new drugs that can easily be translated into the clinic are needed. Currently, great hope lies in the potential of psychedelics to effectively treat AUD. The primary hypothesis is that a single session of psychedelic-guided psychotherapy can restore...