Psychedelics as prophylactic neuroprotectants.
Science (New York, N.Y.) September 3, 2026 Maria Maiarù
A compound found in certain mushrooms prevents nerve damage during chemotherapy.
Science (New York, N.Y.)
ISSN 1095-9203
31 papers in the library · 285 citations · publishing 1959-2026
Papers
Psilocybin prevents chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy through mitochondrial trafficking preservation.
Science (New York, N.Y.) September 3, 2026 Mario Heles, Lilach Pasvolsky, Hinduja Sathishkumar et al.
Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a disabling, often irreversible toxicity that affects millions of patients, limits life-saving cancer therapy, and lacks proven treatment. In this work, we show that as little as two doses of psilocybin before chemotherapy durably prevented the onset of CIPN across platinum- and taxane-based models, including repeated chemotherapy cycles,...
Illusions of AI consciousness.
Science (New York, N.Y.) September 11, 2025 Yoshua Bengio, Eric Elmoznino
The belief that AI is conscious is not without risk.
Enhanced ERK activity extends ketamine's antidepressant effects by augmenting synaptic plasticity.
Science (New York, N.Y.) May 8, 2025 Z Zack Ma, Natalie J Guzikowski, Ji-Woon Kim et al. 44 citations
Repeated ketamine treatment to maintain a rapid antidepressant effect can lead to side effects over time, highlighting an unmet clinical need for sustaining this drug's antidepressant action from a single administration. Ketamine-induced synaptic potentiation at CA3-CA1 synapses has been proposed to be a key synaptic substrate for antidepressant action. Here, we found that ketamine-induced...
Extending ketamine's antidepressant effects.
Science (New York, N.Y.) May 8, 2025 Kenji Hashimoto 9 citations
Boosting an intracellular signaling pathway preserves the antidepressant response to ketamine.
Human high-order thalamic nuclei gate conscious perception through the thalamofrontal loop.
Science (New York, N.Y.) April 4, 2025 Zepeng Fang, Yuanyuan Dang, An'An Ping et al. 45 citations
Human high-order thalamic nuclei activity is known to closely correlate with conscious states. However, it is not clear how those thalamic nuclei and thalamocortical interactions directly contribute to the transient process of human conscious perception. We simultaneously recorded stereoelectroencephalography data from the thalamic nuclei and prefrontal cortex (PFC), while patients with...
Studies seek signs of consciousness before birth.
Science (New York, N.Y.) March 14, 2025 Kelly Servick
Fetal and infant brains offer clues to when human experience begins.
Psychedelic trials face downsides of the 'trip'.
Science (New York, N.Y.) March 7, 2025 Jennifer Couzin-Frankel
New studies aim to separate participant expectations from drug effects.
Evaluating animal consciousness.
Science (New York, N.Y.) February 21, 2025 Kristin Andrews, Jonathan Birch, Jeff Sebo 29 citations
An emerging field shows how animal feelings can be studied scientifically.
Can psychedelics improve well-being in autism?
Science (New York, N.Y.) December 20, 2024 Rachel Nuwer 1 citation
A brace of new studies probes benefits and risks for an understudied group.
Isolation of psychedelic-responsive neurons underlying anxiolytic behavioral states.
Science (New York, N.Y.) November 15, 2024 Jessie Muir, S Lin, Isak K Aarrestad et al. 37 citations
Psychedelics hold promise as alternate treatments for neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the neural mechanisms by which they drive adaptive behavioral effects remain unclear. We isolated the specific neurons modulated by a psychedelic to determine their role in driving behavior. Using a light- and calcium-dependent activity integrator, we genetically tagged psychedelic-responsive neurons in...
What's next for psychedelics after MDMA rejection?
Science (New York, N.Y.) August 16, 2024 Kai Kupferschmidt 12 citations
Lykos's failure to win FDA approval for PTSD therapy may accelerate a strategic shift among its competitors.
Brain region-specific action of ketamine as a rapid antidepressant.
Science (New York, N.Y.) August 9, 2024 Min Chen, Shuangshuang Ma, Hanxiao Liu et al. 87 citations
Ketamine has been found to have rapid and potent antidepressant activity. However, despite the ubiquitous brain expression of its molecular target, the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR), it was not clear whether there is a selective, primary site for ketamine's antidepressant action. We found that ketamine injection in depressive-like mice specifically blocks NMDARs in lateral habenular...
Locking away depression.
Science (New York, N.Y.) August 9, 2024 Jose Cesar Hernandez Silva, Christophe D Proulx 7 citations
The antidepressant ketamine blocks neuroreceptors in hyperactive brain regions.
Psychedelics field looks ahead after FDA advisers' rejection.
Science (New York, N.Y.) June 14, 2024 Kai Kupferschmidt 3 citations
Reeling from negative vote on MDMA-assisted PTSD therapy, researchers seek lessons for future studies.
No trip needed for psychedelics to lift mood?
Science (New York, N.Y.) June 9, 2023 Cathleen O'Grady 2 citations
LSD and psilocin molecules bind to antidepressant drug targets in the brain, study shows.
Possible psychedelic therapeutic mechanism.
Science (New York, N.Y.) February 17, 2023 Evan M. Hess, Todd D Gould 9 citations
Psychedelics act on intracellular serotonin receptors that are not accessible by serotonin alone.
Preserved feedforward but impaired top-down processes in the vegetative state.
Science (New York, N.Y.) May 13, 2011 Melanie Boly, Marta Isabel Garrido, Olivia Gosseries et al.
Frontoparietal cortex is involved in the explicit processing (awareness) of stimuli. Frontoparietal activation has also been found in studies of subliminal stimulus processing. We hypothesized that an impairment of top-down processes, involved in recurrent neuronal message-passing and the generation of long-latency electrophysiological responses, might provide a more reliable correlate of...
Relating introspective accuracy to individual differences in brain structure.
Science (New York, N.Y.) September 17, 2010 Stephen M Fleming, Rimona S Weil, Zoltán Nagy et al.
The ability to introspect about self-performance is key to human subjective experience, but the neuroanatomical basis of this ability is unknown. Such accurate introspection requires discriminating correct decisions from incorrect ones, a capacity that varies substantially across individuals. We dissociated variation in introspective ability from objective performance in a simple...
Video ergo sum: manipulating bodily self-consciousness.
Science (New York, N.Y.) August 24, 2007 Bigna Lenggenhager, Tej Tadi, Thomas Metzinger et al.
Humans normally experience the conscious self as localized within their bodily borders. This spatial unity may break down in certain neurological conditions such as out-of-body experiences, leading to a striking disturbance of bodily self-consciousness. On the basis of these clinical data, we designed an experiment that uses conflicting visual-somatosensory input in virtual reality to disrupt...
Embodying emotion.
Science (New York, N.Y.) May 18, 2007 Paula M Niedenthal
Recent theories of embodied cognition suggest new ways to look at how we process emotional information. The theories suggest that perceiving and thinking about emotion involve perceptual, somatovisceral, and motoric reexperiencing (collectively referred to as "embodiment") of the relevant emotion in one's self. The embodiment of emotion, when induced in human participants by manipulations of...
Endocannabinoid signaling in the brain.
Science (New York, N.Y.) April 26, 2002 Rachel I Wilson, Roger A Nicoll
The primary psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Delta9-THC), affects the brain mainly by activating a specific receptor (CB1). CB1 is expressed at high levels in many brain regions, and several endogenous brain lipids have been identified as CB1 ligands. In contrast to classical neurotransmitters, endogenous cannabinoids can function as retrograde synaptic...
Sleep, learning, and dreams: off-line memory reprocessing.
Science (New York, N.Y.) November 2, 2001 Robert Stickgold, J A Hobson, Roar Fosse et al.
Converging evidence and new research methodologies from across the neurosciences permit the neuroscientific study of the role of sleep in off-line memory reprocessing, as well as the nature and function of dreaming. Evidence supports a role for sleep in the consolidation of an array of learning and memory tasks. In addition, new methodologies allow the experimental manipulation of dream content...
Unresponsiveness to cannabinoids and reduced addictive effects of opiates in CB1 receptor knockout mice.
Science (New York, N.Y.) January 15, 1999 C Ledent, O Valverde, G Cossu et al.
The function of the central cannabinoid receptor (CB1) was investigated by invalidating its gene. Mutant mice did not respond to cannabinoid drugs, demonstrating the exclusive role of the CB1 receptor in mediating analgesia, reinforcement, hypothermia, hypolocomotion, and hypotension. The acute effects of opiates were unaffected, but the reinforcing properties of morphine and the severity of...
Pathological changes induced in cerebrocortical neurons by phencyclidine and related drugs.
Science (New York, N.Y.) June 16, 1989 J W Olney, J Labruyere, M T Price
Phencyclidine (PCP), a dissociative anesthetic and widely abused psychotomimetic drug, and MK-801, a potent PCP receptor ligand, have neuroprotective properties stemming from their ability to antagonize the excitotoxic actions of endogenous excitatory amino acids such as glutamate and aspartate. There is growing interest in the potential application of these compounds in the treatment of...