TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
August 1, 2026
Sofia Nasini, Benedetta Barzon, A. Casile et al.
Classic serotonergic psychedelics act primarily via 5-HT2A receptor agonism, yet their therapeutic effects and biological responses are heterogeneous. Biological sex remains an underexamined source of this variability because many clinical and preclinical studies have not been designed to test sex-by-treatment effects. Recent preclinical findings, together with more limited human evidence,...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
September 16, 2025
Sonia Sonda, Diana Pendin, Stefano Comai et al.
11 citations
Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, is gaining attention for its rapid and sustained therapeutic effects in depression and other hard-to-treat neuropsychiatric conditions, potentially through its capacity to enhance neuronal plasticity. While its neuroplastic and therapeutic effects are commonly attributed to serotonin 2A (5-HT 2A ) receptor activation, emerging evidence reveals a more...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
August 28, 2025
Alex C. Kwan, John R. Mantsch, John D. Mccorvy
7 citations
There is growing interest in developing psychedelic-inspired drugs for treating psychiatric disorders. However, identifying next-generation psychedelic analogs with ideal receptor selectivity and true therapeutic efficacy remains a major challenge. Recent progress has been driven by advances in determining agonist-induced biased signal transduction, high-content behavioral phenotyping via...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
February 1, 2024
Felicia Reed, Claire J. Foldi
22 citations
The psychedelic compound psilocybin has recently emerged as a therapeutic intervention for various mental health conditions. Psilocybin is a potent agonist of serotonin (5-HT) receptors (5-HTRs), which are expressed in the brain and throughout peripheral tissues, with particularly high expression in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. However, no studies have investigated the possibility that...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
August 1, 2023
Omer A. Syed, Benjamin Tsang, Rotem Petranker et al.
Psychedelic drugs have experienced an unprecedented surge in recreational use within the past few years. Among recreational users, the risks of psychedelic use by pregnant and breastfeeding women are severely understudied and there is little information on the potential teratogenic effects of these drugs. We provide an overview of the previous data on psychedelic teratogenicity from rodent...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
September 24, 2021
Lily R. Aleksandrova, Anthony G. Phillips
255 citations
The emerging therapeutic efficacy of ketamine and classical psychedelics for depression has inspired tremendous interest in the underlying neurobiological mechanisms. We review preclinical and clinical evidence supporting neuroplasticity as a convergent downstream mechanism of action for these novel fast-acting antidepressants. Through their primary glutamate or serotonin receptor targets,...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
September 22, 2017
Evan J. Kyzar, Charles D. Nichols, Raul R. Gainetdinov et al.
155 citations
Psychedelic drugs, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), mescaline, and psilocybin, exert profound effects on brain and behavior. After decades of difficulties in studying these compounds, psychedelics are again being tested as potential treatments for intractable biomedical disorders. Preclinical research of psychedelics complements human neuroimaging studies and pilot clinical trials,...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
June 2017
Shigeyuki Chaki
Based on the discovery of the robust antidepressant effects of ketamine in patients with depression, including those with treatment-resistant depression, agents acting on the glutamatergic system have drawn much attention as potential novel antidepressants. Among the agents acting on the glutamatergic system, preclinical data have indicated that the group II metabotropic glutamate (mGlu)...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
August 1, 2008
Mark A. Geyer, Franz X. Vollenweider
435 citations
The history of serotonin research is closely related to the study of hallucinogenic drugs that function as agonists at serotonin-2A receptors. The fundamental idea that psychotic states seen in psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia might be attributable, in part, to abnormalities in serotonergic systems began with the almost simultaneous discovery of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD),...
TIPS - Trends in Pharmacological Sciences
March 1, 2003
Douglas J Sheffler, Bryan L. Roth
151 citations
Salvinorin A, a neoclerodane diterpene, is the most potent naturally occurring hallucinogen known and rivals the synthetic hallucinogen lysergic acid diethylamide in potency. Recently, the molecular target of salvinorin A was identified as the kappa opioid receptor (KOR). Salvinorin A represents the only known non-nitrogenous KOR selective agonist. Based on the selectivity of salvinorin A for...