The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
February 1, 2025
Martine Skumlien, Tom P. Freeman, Daniel L. Hall et al.
Abstract Background Cannabis, and its main psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), may alter the brain’ s reward system both acutely and over time. The endocannabinoid and reward systems mature during adolescence and adolescents may therefore respond differently to acute cannabis exposure compared with adults. Despite this, no previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
February 1, 2025
Martha López-canul, Vivienne Nguyen, Antonio Inserra et al.
Abstract Background Pain is a major health problem resulting in a high degree of suffering, physical, psychological and social impairments, and exorbitant health care costs1-2. Effective pain treatments are limited and are often accompanied by significant side effects3. Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that psychedelics, specifically psilocybin, can reset brain areas of functional...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
February 1, 2025
Hui-Ju Wu, *Mu-Hong Chen, Wei-Chen Lin
Abstract Background The role of neurofilament light chain (NFL) in treatment-resistant depression (TRD) is unclear. Whether baseline NFL concentrations are associated with the antidepressant effects of low- dose ketamine infusion has not been determined. Methods The NFL concentrations of 71 patients with TRD and 17 healthy controls were assessed. Patients with TRD were randomly administered a...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 28, 2024
Michael J Mueller, Helena Aicher, Dario Dornbierer et al.
10 citations
Recent interest in the clinical use of psychedelics has highlighted plant-derived medicines like ayahuasca showing rapid-acting and sustainable therapeutic effects in various psychiatric conditions. This traditional Amazonian plant decoction contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carboline alkaloids such as harmine. However, its use is often accompanied by distressing effects like nausea,...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 1, 2024
Craig Chepke, Richard C. Shelton, Gerard Sanacora et al.
7 citations
Esketamine nasal spray (ESK) is approved, in conjunction with an oral antidepressant, for the treatment of treatment-resistant depression in adults and for the treatment of depressive symptoms in adults with major depressive disorder with acute suicidal ideation or behavior. No adverse events (AEs) of respiratory depression were reported in ESK phase 3 clinical trials; however, postmarketing...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 29, 2024
Helen M Collins
18 citations
Abstract Psychedelics are emerging as potential treatments for a range of mental health conditions, including anxiety and depression, treatment-resistant depression, and substance use disorders. Recent studies have also suggested that the psychedelic psilocybin may be able to treat obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). Since the 1960s, case studies have reported improvements to obsessive and...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 1, 2024
Randall L. Morrison, Jaskaran Singh, Ella Daly et al.
9 citations
While esketamine is effective in treatment-resistant depression (TRD), detailed information about the effect of esketamine on cognition is relatively scarce. This analysis assessed the effect of short-term (3 double-blind [DB] studies: DB1, DB2, and DB4) or long-term maintenance treatment (DB3) with esketamine nasal spray (ESK) compared with a placebo (PBO) combined with active-comparator, on...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
October 1, 2024
Gargi Mandal, Madeline Kirkpatrick, Silvia Alboni et al.
12 citations
Understanding the precise mechanisms of ketamine is crucial for replicating its rapid antidepressant effects without inducing psychomimetic changes. Here, we explore whether the antidepressant-like effects of ketamine enantiomers are underscored by protection against cytokine-induced reductions in hippocampal neurogenesis and activation of the neurotoxic kynurenine pathway in our...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
October 1, 2024
Nicholas E Bulthuis, Josephine C McGowan, Liliana R Ladner et al.
2 citations
Standard antidepressant treatments often take weeks to reach efficacy and are ineffective for many patients. (R,S)-ketamine, an N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist, has been shown to be a rapid-acting antidepressant and to decrease depressive symptoms within hours of administration. While previous studies have shown the importance of the GluN2B subunit of the NMDA receptor on...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
June 1, 2024
Thomas Liebe, Lena Vera Danyeli, Zümrüt Duygu Sen et al.
5 citations
The NMDA antagonist S-ketamine is gaining increasing use as a rapid-acting antidepressant, although its exact mechanisms of action are still unknown. In this study, we investigated ketamine in respect to its properties toward central noradrenergic mechanisms and how they influence alertness behavior. We investigated the influence of S-ketamine on the locus coeruleus (LC) brain network in a...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 1, 2024
Gessica Piras, Cristina Cadoni, Francesca Caria et al.
3 citations
The proliferation of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) in the drug market raises concerns about uncertainty on their pharmacological profile and the health hazard linked to their use. Within the category of synthetic stimulant NPS, the phenethylamine 2-Cl-4,5-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (2-Cl-4,5-MDMA) has been linked to severe intoxication requiring hospitalization. Thereby, the...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
April 1, 2024
Sumra Sajid, Hanga C Galfalvy, John G Keilp et al.
9 citations
We sought to explore relationships of acute dissociative effects of intravenous ketamine with change in depression and suicidal ideation and with plasma metabolite levels in a randomized, midazolam-controlled trial. Data from a completed trial in suicidal, depressed participants (n = 40) randomly assigned to ketamine was used to examine relationships between ketamine treatment-emergent...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
January 30, 2024
Blake A Fordyce, Bryan L. Roth
4 citations
Abstract For centuries, ancient lineages have consumed psychedelic compounds from natural sources. In the modern era, scientists have since harnessed the power of computational tools, cellular assays, and behavioral metrics to study how these compounds instigate changes on molecular, cellular, circuit-wide, and system levels. Here, we provide a brief history of psychedelics and their use in...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 7, 2023
Apochi Obed Okwoli
Obed Okwoli Apochi, MSc; New study reveals long-term effects of MDMA on the brain's glutamate-glutamine complex, International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacolog
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 14, 2022
David Williamson, Ibrahim Turkoz, Ewa Wajs et al.
11 citations
BACKGROUND: "Dissociation" comprises distinct phenomena, some of which are associated with esketamine treatment and some may overlap with positive symptoms of psychosis. Relationships between dissociation and psychotic symptoms assessed by -clinician report vs conventional rating scales were investigated in a post hoc analysis of data from the initial treatment session in an -open-label,...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 4, 2022
Aaron Klaiber, Friederike Holze, Ioanna Istampoulouoglou et al.
100 citations
Abstract Background Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is currently being investigated in psychedelic-assisted therapy. LSD has a long duration of acute action of 8–11 hours. It produces its acute psychedelic effects via stimulation of the serotonin 5-hydroxytryptamine-2A (HT2A) receptor. Administration of the 5-HT2A antagonist ketanserin before LSD almost fully blocks the acute subjective...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
October 21, 2022
James J Gattuso, Daniel Perkins, Simon Ruffell et al.
233 citations
Abstract Psychedelics are a unique class of drug that commonly produce vivid hallucinations as well as profound psychological and mystical experiences. A grouping of interconnected brain regions characterized by increased temporal coherence at rest have been termed the Default Mode Network (DMN). The DMN has been the focus of numerous studies assessing its role in self-referencing, mind...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
August 10, 2022
Anne Weigand, Matti Gärtner, Milan Scheidegger et al.
22 citations
BACKGROUND: Growing evidence underscores the utility of ketamine as an effective and rapid-acting treatment option for major depressive disorder (MDD). However, clinical outcomes vary between patients. Predicting successful response may enable personalized treatment decisions and increase clinical efficacy. METHODS: We here explored the potential of pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC)...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
January 12, 2022
Genís Ona, Frederic Sampedro, Sergio Romero et al.
17 citations
The mechanisms through which kappa opioid receptor (KOR) agonists induce psychotomimetic effects are largely unknown, although the modulation of this receptor has attracted attention for its clinical use. In this work, we characterize the neuropharmacological effects of salvinorin-A, a highly selective KOR agonist. Changes in multimodal electroencephalography, single-photon emission computed...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
December 3, 2021
Benjamin Hackl, Hannes Todt, Helmut Kubista et al.
11 citations
Abstract Psilocybin, a hallucinogen contained in “magic” mushrooms, holds great promise for the treatment of various psychiatric disorders, and early clinical trials are encouraging. Adverse cardiac events after intake of high doses of psilocybin and a trial reporting QT interval prolongation in the electrocardiogram attributed to the drug’s main metabolite, psilocin, gave rise to safety...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
November 12, 2021
Benjamin Z Roberts, Arpi Minassian, Adam L. Halberstadt et al.
HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder (HAND) is commonly observed in persons living with HIV (PWH) and is characterized by cognitive deficits implicating disruptions of fronto-striatal neurocircuitry. Such circuitry is also susceptible to alteration by cannabis and other drugs of abuse. PWH use cannabis at much higher rates than the general population, thus prioritizing the characterization of...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
July 23, 2021
Sunjeev K. Kamboj, Hannah Zhao, Luzia Troebinger et al.
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an anesthetic gas with both therapeutic and abuse potential. Because N2O is an NMDA receptor (NMDAR) antagonist, its effects are expected to resemble those of the prototypical NMDAR antagonist, ketamine. In this study, we examined the subjective rewarding effects of N2O using measures previously employed in studies of ketamine. We also tested for moderation of these...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
July 5, 2021
Sven Melker Hagsäter, Robert Pettersson, Christopher Pettersson et al.
29 citations
Abstract Background Though drugs binding to serotonergic 5-HT2A receptors have long been claimed to influence human anxiety, it remains unclear if this receptor subtype is best described as anxiety promoting or anxiety dampening. Whereas conditioned fear expressed as freezing in rats is modified by application of 5-HT2A–acting drugs locally into different brain regions, reports on the effect of...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
May 10, 2021
Natalie Gukasyan, David B. Yaden, Matthew W. Johnson et al.
56 citations
Abstract Psychedelic substances produce unusual and compelling changes in conscious experience that have prompted some to propose that psychedelics may provide unique insights explaining the nature of consciousness. At present, psychedelics, like other current scientific tools and methods, seem unlikely to provide information relevant to the so-called “hard problem of consciousness,” which...
The International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology
April 26, 2021
Alison Wakeford, Alexander M. Sherwood, Thomas E Prisinzano et al.
6 citations
BACKGROUND: Synthetic cathinones display overlapping behavioral effects with psychostimulants (e.g., methamphetamine [MA]) and/or entactogens (e.g., 3,4-methylenedioxymethaphetamine [MDMA])-presumably reflecting their dopaminergic and/or serotonergic activity. The discriminative stimulus effects of MDMA thought to be mediated by such activity have been well characterized in rodents but have not...