Biology
January 25, 2026
Claire A. Rice, Robert W. Stackman
Ketamine (KET) administration protocols vary widely in their design, with acute, sub-chronic, and chronic dosing regimens used to induce psychotic-like behavior in rodent models. This review compares representative classic and contemporary studies employing differing KET administration protocols to model psychosis in laboratory rodents. Specifically, we have focused on the behavioral tasks and...
Biology
April 1, 2025
F. R. Azarias, Gustavo Henrique Doná Rodrigues Almeida, Luana Felix de Melo et al.
Simple Summary The Default Mode Network (DMN) is a brain network that becomes active when the brain is at rest. It is crucial for processes like self-reflection, emotional processing, social interaction, and mental exploration. Research has shown that the DMN is not exclusive to humans but is also found in non-human animals, suggesting its evolutionary importance across species. The DMN plays a...
Biology
October 28, 2023
Blerida Banushi, Vince Polito
26 citations
Psychedelic substances have gained significant attention in recent years for their potential therapeutic effects on various psychiatric disorders. This review delves into the intricate cellular neurobiology of psychedelics, emphasizing their potential therapeutic applications in addressing the global burden of mental illness. It focuses on contemporary research into the pharmacological and...
Biology
May 31, 2022
Tobias Esch
Happiness is a feeling, an immediate experience, not a cognitive construct. It is based on activity in the brain's neurobiological reward and motivation systems, which have been retained in evolution. This conceptual review provides an overview of the basic neurobiological principles behind happiness phenomena and proposes a framework for further classification. Three neurobiologically distinct...
Biology
October 12, 2021
Vic Norris
The relevance of bacteria to subjective experiences or qualia is underappreciated. Here, I make four proposals. Firstly, living systems traverse sequences of active states that determine their behaviour; these states result from competitive coherence, which depends on connectivity-based competition between a Next process and a Now process, whereby elements in the active state at time n+1 are...
Biology
August 17, 2021
Lourdes Poyatos, Esther Papaseit, Eulàlia Olesti et al.
26 citations
Considered the β-keto analogue of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, ecstasy), 3,4-Methylenedioxymethcathinone (methylone) is a synthetic cathinone. Over the years, methylone has been used as a substitute for conventional psychostimulants, such as MDMA. To date, little is known about the human pharmacology of methylone; the only available information has been provided by surveys or...
Biology
March 24, 2021
Nunzia La Maida, Esther Papaseit, Lucía Martínez de Soto et al.
14 citations
Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) are one of the most frequent classes of new psychoactive substances monitored by the EU Early Warning System and World Health Organization. UR-144 is a SC with a relative low affinity for the CB1 receptor with respect to that for the CB2 receptor. As with other cannabinoid receptor agonists, it has been monitored by the EU Early Warning System since 2012 for severe...
Biology
June 29, 2018
Keith Douglas Farnsworth
Two broad features are jointly necessary for autonomous agency: organisational closure and the embodiment of an objective-function providing a ‘goal’: so far only organisms demonstrate both. Organisational closure has been studied (mostly in abstract), especially as cell autopoiesis and the cybernetic principles of autonomy, but the role of an internalised ‘goal’ and how it is instantiated by...