EBioMedicine
September 1, 2016
David Martin, Charles D. Nichols
88 citations
Psychedelics directly activate a small subset of serotonin 5-HT2A receptor-expressing excitatory neurons in the cortex, which then recruit inhibitory somatostatin and parvalbumin GABAergic interneurons, as well as astrocytes, producing distinct regional responses. This finding clarifies the cellular mechanisms underlying psychedelics' effects on perception and cognition, and their therapeutic potential for anxiety, depression, and addiction. The study also introduces a fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) method for isolating specific brain cell subtypes based on cytoplasmic epitopes, enabling downstream nucleic acid analysis and expanding FACS applications in neuroscience.
EBioMedicine
March 26, 2024
Allen Ting Chun Lee, Yishan Luo, Zhaohua Huo et al.
7 citations
Older adults with subjective cognitive decline who doubled their weekly calligraphy practice for six months showed increased functional connectivity in several default mode network regions compared with those who maintained their usual practice. The intervention group exhibited stronger connections between the medial prefrontal cortex and right lateral temporal cortex, medial prefrontal cortex and right inferior parietal lobe, left hippocampal formation and right lateral temporal cortex, and left hippocampal formation and right inferior parietal lobe. These positive neuromodulatory effects suggest that increasing engagement in cognitive activities in late life may support brain health.
EBioMedicine
December 1, 2025
Kiranpreet Gill, Angharad N De Cates, Chantelle Wiseman et al.
Nitrous oxide, a gas that blocks the N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor, shows rapid but short-lived antidepressant effects in early-phase trials. Pooled results from three trials using a single 50% dose found significant reductions in depressive symptoms at 2 hours and 24 hours after inhalation, but not at one week. Side effects were mild and temporary, with the 25% dose being better tolerated. Most trials were small, early-phase studies focused on short-term outcomes in adults with major depressive disorder or treatment-resistant depression. Whether nitrous oxide will become a useful clinical treatment depends on whether its effects can be sustained through optimized or repeated dosing.
EBioMedicine
May 13, 2022
Ting Xue, Benjamin Chiao, Tianjiao Xu et al.
Long-term meditation offsets obesity, hypertension, and reduced heart rate variability in Tibetan monks with a body mass index over 30 who had practiced meditation for an average of 19 years. Compared with matched non-meditative Tibetan controls, the monks showed a protective plasma proteome linked to decreased atherosclerosis, enhanced glycolysis, and oxygen release, along with lower levels of total cholesterol, LDL-C, apolipoprotein B, and lipoprotein(a). Blood pressure and heart rate variability were comparable between groups. The findings suggest meditation may improve cardiovascular health even in individuals with a sedentary lifestyle.
EBioMedicine
August 1, 2016
E. Sibinga
A commentary discusses a study by Shao et al. that adds to evidence of changes in participants who receive formal mindfulness meditation instruction. The commentary traces the field back to Kabat-Zinn's 1982 paper on the mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program, originally developed for chronic pain patients at an academic medical center. Those participants reported significant reductions in pain, improvements in mood, and fewer medical symptoms. Since then, mindfulness meditation instruction, especially MBSR, has been applied and studied in broadening clinical scenarios and for general health and wellness.