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bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)

211 papers in the library · 590 citations · publishing 2015-2026

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Delayed Anxiolytic-Like Effects of Psilocybin in Male Mice Are Supported by Acute Glucocorticoid Release

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) August 14, 2020 N. Jones, Zarmeen Zahid, Sean M. Grady et al. 9 citations preprint

Abstract Despite observed correlations between acute glucocorticoid release, self-reported anxiety, and long-term treatment outcomes for human studies using psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy approaches, the mechanistic relationship between psychedelic-dependent stress and subsequent behavioral responses remains unclear. Using rodents, direct manipulation of stress-associated hormone responses...

Increases in whole brain grey matter associated with long-term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: a detailed area by area description

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 30, 2020 Sergio Hernández, Roberto Dorta‐Guerra, José Suero et al. 2 citations preprint

Abstract Objectives Our previous study showed that long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) had around 7% larger grey matter volume (GMV) in the whole brain compared with healthy controls; however, when testing individual regions, only 5 small brain areas were statistically different between groups. Under the hypothesis that those results were statistically conservative, with the...

Is Kambô psychoactive? Acute and subacute effects of the secretion of the Giant Maki Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) on human consciousness

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 24, 2020 Timo Torsten Schmidt, Simon Reiche, Caroline L. C. Hage et al. preprint

ABSTRACT Kambô is the name for the secretion of the Giant Leaf Frog (Phyllomedusa bicolor) containing a plethora of bioactive peptides. Originally, it is ritually used by different ethnicities from the Amazon basin as a remedy against bad luck in hunting. In the last twenty years, Kambô has spread to Western urban centers, often associated with the use of ayahuasca. Anecdotal reports claim...

A tropane-based ibogaine analog rescues folding-deficient SERT and DAT

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 14, 2020 Shreyas Bhat, Daryl A. Guthrie, Ameya Kasture et al. 3 citations preprint

Abstract Missense mutations that give rise to protein misfolding are rare, but collectively, defective protein folding diseases are consequential. Folding deficiencies are amenable to pharmacological correction (pharmacochaperoning), but the underlying mechanisms remain enigmatic. Ibogaine and its active metabolite noribogaine correct folding defects in the dopamine transporter (DAT), but they...

Gamma band alterations and REM-like traits underpin the acute effect of the atypical psychedelic ibogaine

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) June 29, 2020 Joaquín González, Matías Cavelli, Santiago Castro-Zaballa et al. 5 citations preprint

Abstract Ibogaine is a psychedelic alkaloid that has attracted scientific interest because of its important antiaddictive properties evidenced in observational studies in humans, and in models for substance-use-disorders in rodents. Its subjective effect has been described as intense vivid dream-like experiences occurring while awake; hence, ibogaine is often referred to as an oneirogenic...

Everyone Can Meditate: Characterizing a Personalized Connectomic State Space among Meditation Groups and Non-meditators

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) June 20, 2020 Jacob van Doorn, Mengqi Xing, B. Rael Cahn et al. 1 citation preprint

Abstract Alterations in brain connectivity has been shown for many disease states and groups of people from different levels of cognitive training. To study dynamic functional connectivity, we propose a method for a personalized connectomic state space called Thought Chart. Experienced meditators are an interesting group of healthy subjects for brain connectivity analyses due to their...

How does it feel to be on psilocybin? Dose-response relationships of subjective experiences in humans

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) June 11, 2020 Tim Hirschfeld, Timo Torsten Schmidt 8 citations preprint

Abstract Psilocybin is the active component of magic mushrooms and is well known for its psychoactive properties. Different questionnaires have been developed to systematically quantify altered states of consciousness induced by psychoactive drugs. The aim of this study was to obtain the dose-response relationships of the subjective experiences induced by psilocybin in healthy study...

Brain Network Organization During Mindful Acceptance of Emotions

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) April 1, 2020 Matthew L. Dixon, Manesh Girn, Kalina Christoff 14 citations preprint

Abstract Individuals use various strategies to cope with challenging emotions such as anxiety. Mindful acceptance involves broadening attentional scope and fully experiencing present moment sensory feelings (whether pleasant or unpleasant) without judgment or elaboration. In contrast, narrative-evaluation involves focusing on a narrow band of sensory experience and generating an elaborate...

Role of the medial prefrontal cortex in the effects of rapid acting antidepressants on decision-making biases in rodents

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 23, 2020 Ca Hales, Jm Bartlett, Roberto Arban et al. preprint

Abstract Major Depressive Disorder is a significant and costly cause of global disability. Until the discovery of the rapid acting antidepressant (RAAD) effects of ketamine, treatments were limited to drugs that have delayed clinical benefits. The mechanism of action of ketamine is currently unclear but one hypothesis is that it may involve neuropsychological effects mediated through modulation...

Dopamine manipulations modulate paranoid social inferences in healthy people

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) December 19, 2019 J.M. Barnby, Vaughan Bell, Quinton Deeley et al. 4 citations preprint

Abstract Altered dopamine transmission is thought to influence the formation of persecutory delusions. However, despite extensive evidence from clinical studies there is little experimental evidence on how modulating the dopamine system changes social attributions related to paranoia, and the salience of beliefs more generally. 27 healthy male participants received 150mg L-DOPA, 3mg...

d-Lysergic acid diethylamide has major potential as a cognitive enhancer

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) December 6, 2019 Felipe Augusto Cini da Silva, Isis M. Ornelas, Encarni Marcos et al. 9 citations preprint

Abstract Psychedelic agonists of serotonin receptors induce neural plasticity and synaptogenesis, but their potential to enhance learning remains uncharted. Here we show that a single dose of d-LSD, a potent serotonergic agonist, increased novel object preference in young and adult rats several days after treatment. d-LSD alone did not increase preference in old animals, but could rescue it to...

Nightmares share strong genetic risk with sleep and psychiatric disorders

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) November 9, 2019 Hanna M. Ollila, Nasa Sinnott-Armstrong, Katri Kantojärvi et al. 5 citations preprint

ABSTRACT Nightmares are vivid, extended and extremely dysphoric dreams that awaken the dreamer. Twin studies indicate that nightmare frequency has a heritability between 36 and 51% providing evidence for genetic factors underlying predisposition to nightmares. Furthermore, while cross-sectional epidemiological findings suggest that heavy alcohol usage, traumatic experiences and psychiatric...

Δ 9 -Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) impairs visual working memory performance: A randomized crossover trial

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) September 23, 2019 Kirsten C. S. Adam, Manoj K. Doss, Elisa Pabon et al. 2 citations preprint

Abstract With the increasing prevalence of legal cannabis use and availability, there is an urgent need to identify cognitive impairments related to its use. It is widely believed that cannabis, or its main psychoactive component Δ 9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), impairs working memory, i.e., the ability to temporarily hold information in mind. However, our review of the literature yielded...

Over eight hundred cannabis strains characterized by the relationship between their psychoactive effects, perceptual profiles, and chemical compositions

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) September 8, 2019 Laura Alethia de la Fuente, Federico Zamberlán, Andrés Sánchez Ferrán et al. 1 citation preprint

Abstract Background Commercially available cannabis strains have multiplied in recent years as a consequence of regional changes in legislation for medicinal and recreational use. Lack of a standardized system to label plants and seeds hinders the consistent identification of particular strains with their elicited psychoactive effects. The objective of this work was to leverage information...

Reduced responsiveness of the reward system underlies tolerance to cannabis impairment in chronic users

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 19, 2019 Natasha L. Mason, Eef L. Theunissen, Nadia R. P. W. Hutten et al. 4 citations preprint

Abstract Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug in the world. However due to a changing legal landscape, and rising interest in therapeutic utility, there is an increasing trend in (long-term) use and possibly, cannabis impairment. Importantly, a growing body of evidence suggests regular cannabis users develop tolerance to the impairing, as well as the rewarding, effects of the drug....

Link between personality and response to THC exposure

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) June 17, 2019 Tetiana Kardash, Dmitry Rodin, Michael Kirby et al. preprint

ABSTRACT The effects of cannabis reported by users range from experiences of euphoria and anxiolytic effects to paranoia, anxiety, and increased risk of depression. Attempts to reconcile the apparent contradictions in user response have not been conclusive. Here, we utilized selectively-bred stress-resilient socially dominant (Dom) and stress-sensitive socially submissive (Sub) mice to...

Experienced meditators exhibit no differences to demographically-matched controls in theta phase synchronisation, P200, or P300 during an auditory oddball task

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) April 14, 2019 J.R. Payne, Oliver Baell, Harry Geddes et al. 6 citations preprint

Abstract Objectives Long-term meditation practice affects the brain’s ability to sustain attention. However, how this occurs is not well understood. Electroencephalography (EEG) studies have found that during dichotic oddball listening tasks, experienced meditators displayed altered attention-related neural markers including theta phase synchronisation (TPS) and event-related potentials (ERP;...

In search of Universal Cortical Power Changes Linked to NMDA-Antagonist based Anesthetic Induced Reductions in Consciousness

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) March 9, 2019 Andria Pelentritou, Levin Kuhlmann, John Cormack et al. 1 citation preprint

B. Abstract Background. Despite their intriguing nature, investigations of the neurophysiology of N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA)-antagonists Xenon (Xe) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) are limited and have revealed inconsistent frequency-dependent alterations, in spectral power and functional connectivity. Discrepancies are likely due to using low resolution electroencephalography restricted to sensor...

Serotonergic Psychedelics LSD & Psilocybin Increase the Fractal Dimension of Cortical Brain Activity in Spatial and Temporal Domains

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 11, 2019 Tf. Varley, Robin Carhart-Harris, Leor Roseman et al. 8 citations preprint

Abstract Psychedelic drugs, such as psilocybin and LSD, represent unique tools for researchers in-vestigating the neural origins of consciousness. Currently, the most compelling theories of how psychedelics exert their effects is by increasing the complexity of brain activity and moving the system towards a critical point between order and disorder, creating more dynamic and complex patterns of...

Increased spontaneous EEG signal diversity during stroboscopically-induced altered states of consciousness

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 4, 2019 David J. Schwartzman, Michael Schartner, Benjamin B. Ador et al. 31 citations preprint

Abstract What are the global neuronal signatures of altered states of consciousness (ASC)? Recently, increases in neural signal diversity, compared to those found in wakeful rest, have been reported during psychedelic states. Neural signal diversity has previously been identified as a robust signature of the state of consciousness, showing lower scores during sleep or anaesthesia compared to...

Convergent evolution of psilocybin biosynthesis by psychedelic mushrooms

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 25, 2018 Ali R. Awan, Jaclyn M. Winter, Daniel J. Turner et al. 26 citations preprint

Abstract Psilocybin is a psychoactive compound with clinical applications produced by dozens of mushroom species 1 . There has been a longstanding interest in psilocybin research with regard to treatment for addiction 2 , depression 3 , and end-of-life suffering 4 . However, until recently very little was known about psilocybin biosynthesis and its ecological role. Here we confirm and refine...

Altered trajectories in the dynamical repertoire of functional network states under psilocybin

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 25, 2018 Louis-David Lord, Paul Expert, Selen Atasoy et al. 10 citations preprint

Abstract Brain activity can be understood as the exploration of a dynamical landscape of activity configurations over both space and time. This dynamical landscape may be defined in terms of spontaneous transitions within a repertoire of discrete metastable states of functional connectivity (FC), which underlie different mental processes. However, it remains unclear how the brain’s dynamical...

Psychoactive plant- and mushroom-associated alkaloids from two behavior modifying cicada pathogens

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) July 24, 2018 Greg R. Boyce, Emile Gluck‐thaler, Jason C. Slot et al. 1 citation preprint

Abstract Entomopathogenic fungi routinely kill their hosts before releasing infectious spores, but select species keep insects alive while sporulating, which enhances dispersal. Transcriptomics and metabolomics studies of entomopathogens with post-mortem dissemination from their parasitized hosts have unraveled infection processes and host responses, yet mechanisms underlying active spore...

A Single Dose Of Ayahuasca Modulates Salivary Cortisol In Treatment-Resistant Depression

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 31, 2018 Ana Cecília de Menezes Galvão, Raíssa Nóbrega de Almeida, Erick Allan Dos Santos Silva et al. 5 citations preprint

ABSTRACT Major depression is a highly prevalent mood disorder, affecting about 350 million people, and around 30% of the patients are resistant to currently available antidepressant medications. Recent evidence from a randomized placebo-controlled trial supports the rapid antidepressant effects of the psychedelic ayahuasca in treatment-resistant depression. The aim of this study was to explore...

Acute antidepressant effect of ayahuasca in juvenile non-human primate model of depression

bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 25, 2018 Flávia Santos Da Silva, Erick Allan Dos Santos Silva, Geovan Menezes de Sousa et al. 4 citations preprint

ABSTRACT The incidence of major depression in adolescents, aged between 15 to 18 years, reaches approximately 14%. Usually, this disorder presents a recurrent way, without remission of symptoms even after several pharmacological treatments, persisting through adult life. Due to the relatively low efficacy of commercially available antidepressant, new pharmacological therapies are under...