Opioid Receptors in Psychedelia: Indirect Serotonergic Modulation of Direct KOR Activation by Salvinorin A
Biomedicines February 21, 2026 Maximiliano Ganado, Carmen Rubio, Javier Pérez-villavicencio et al.
The neuropharmacology of psychedelics has traditionally focused on serotonergic mechanisms, particularly 5-HT2A receptor activation. However, this paradigm incompletely explains the diversity of neurobiological and therapeutic effects observed across psychedelic compounds. Non-classical psychedelics such as salvinorin A, the primary active constituent of Salvia divinorum, challenge this...