Psychopharmacology
May 2023
Briac Halbout, Collin Hutson, Leann Hua et al.
The endocannabinoid system makes critical contributions to reward processing, motivation, and behavioral control. Repeated exposure to THC or other cannabinoid drugs can cause persistent adaptions in the endocannabinoid system and associated neural circuitry. It remains unclear how such treatments affect the way rewards are processed and pursued. We examined if repeated THC exposure (5...
Psychopharmacology
April 1, 2023
David S. Mathai, Sandeep M. Nayak, David B. Yaden et al.
36 citations
The relationship between subjective drug experience and antidepressant outcomes for ketamine derivatives is poorly understood but of high clinical relevance. Esketamine is the patented (S)-enantiomer of ketamine and has regulatory approval for psychiatric applications. We examined the relationship between acute dissociation, as measured by the Clinician-Administered Dissociative States Scale...
Psychopharmacology
April 1, 2023
Keaton T Cameron-Burr, R Aaron Bola, Eugene A. Kiyatkin
5 citations
Hyperthermia induced by psychomotor stimulants may cause leakage of the blood-brain barrier, vasogenic edema, and lethality in extreme cases. Current treatments such as whole-body cooling are only symptomatic and a clear need to develop pharmacological interventions exists. Dantrolene sodium, a peripheral muscle relaxant used in the treatment of malignant hyperthermia, has been proposed as...
Psychopharmacology
2023
Valeria Buzzelli, Emilia Carbone, Antonia Manduca et al.
20 citations
Fragile X syndrome (FXS) is the most common form of inherited intellectual disability (ID) and the leading monogenic cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Serotonergic neurotransmission has a key role in the modulation of neuronal activity during development, and therefore, it has been hypothesized to be involved in ASD and co-occurring conditions including FXS. As serotonin is involved in...
Psychopharmacology
2023
Juliet Meccia, Joëlle Lopez, Rosemary C. Bagot
14 citations
Interest in the therapeutic potential of serotonergic psychedelic compounds including psilocybin has surged in recent years. While human clinical research suggests psilocybin holds promise as a rapid and long-lasting antidepressant, little is known about how its acute mechanisms of action mediate enduring alterations in cognition and behavior. Human neuroimaging studies point to both acute and...
Psychopharmacology
December 7, 2022
Adam L. Halberstadt, Dino Luethi, Marius C. Hoener et al.
7 citations
Abstract Rationale 4-Thio-substituted phenylalkylamines such as 2,5-dimethoxy-4-ethylthiophenethylamine (2C-T-2) and 2,5-dimethoxy-4- n -propylthiophenethylamine (2C-T-7) produce psychedelic effects in humans and have been distributed as recreational drugs. Objectives The present studies were conducted to examine the structure–activity relationships (SAR) of a series of 4-thio-substituted...
Psychopharmacology
December 1, 2022
Ido Hartogsohn, Rotem Petranker
22 citations
The use of psychedelics for medical and recreational purposes is rising. Contextual factors such as expectancy, intention, and sensory and social environment (set and setting) are widely recognized as moderating the effects of these substances. Nevertheless, clinical trials of microdosing - the ingestion of small, sub-hallucinogenic doses of psychedelics - rarely report their set and setting....
Psychopharmacology
October 13, 2022
Nadia R. P. W. Hutten, Thomas R. Arkell, Frederick Vinckenbosch et al.
36 citations
RATIONALE: Delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active component of cannabis, can cause anxiety in some users during intoxication. Cannabidiol (CBD), another constituent of cannabis, has anxiolytic properties suggesting that cannabis products containing CBD in addition to THC may produce less anxiety than THC-only products. Findings to date around this issue have been inconclusive and could...
Psychopharmacology
October 1, 2022
Daiane Momo Daneluz, Jeferson Machado Batista Sohn, Gabriela O Silveira et al.
To uncover whether psychedelic drugs attenuate fear memory responses would advance the development of better psychedelic-based treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Ayahuasca (AYA), a psychedelic brew containing indolamine N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carbolines, facilitates fear extinction and improves neural plasticity. Upon retrieval, fear memory undergoes labilization...
Psychopharmacology
September 5, 2022
Matthew Butler, Luke A. Jelen, James Rucker
91 citations
Modern psychedelic research remains in an early phase, and the eventual introduction of psychedelics into clinical practice remains in doubt. In this piece, we discuss the role of blinding and expectancy in psychedelic trials, and place this in a broader historical and contemporary context of blinding in trials across the rest of healthcare. We suggest that premature and uncritical promotion...
Psychopharmacology
September 1, 2022
Camila Sanz, Federico Cavanna, Stephanie Müller et al.
1 citation
Serotonergic psychedelics are being studied as novel treatments for mental health disorders and as facilitators of improved well-being, mental function, and creativity. Recent studies have found mixed results concerning the effects of low doses of psychedelics ("microdosing") on these domains. However, microdosing is generally investigated using instruments designed to assess larger doses of...
Psychopharmacology
September 2022
Miaojun Lai, Dan Fu, Zeming Xu et al.
Following the emergence of methylone as one of the most popular synthetic cathinones, this group of novel psychoactive substance with names ending in "-lone," such as dibutylone, ethylone, and N-ethylpentylone, appeared on the recreational drug market. The pharmacological mechanisms of dibutylone, ethylone, and N-ethylpentylone are well understood; however, to date, the reinforcing effects of...
Psychopharmacology
August 8, 2022
Rosalind Watts, Hannes Kettner, Dana Geerts et al.
159 citations
Abstract Rationale A general feeling of disconnection has been associated with mental and emotional suffering. Improvements to a sense of connectedness to self, others and the wider world have been reported by participants in clinical trials of psychedelic therapy. Such accounts have led us to a definition of the psychological construct of ‘connectedness’ as ‘a state of feeling connected to...
Psychopharmacology
July 2022
Sara de la Salle, Joëlle Choueiry, Judy McIntosh et al.
Deficits in early auditory sensory processing in schizophrenia have been linked to N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) hypofunction, but the role of NMDARs in aberrant auditory sensory gating (SG) in this disorder is unclear. This study, conducted in 22 healthy humans, examined the acute effects of a subanesthetic dose of the NMDAR antagonist ketamine on SG as measured electrophysiologically...
Psychopharmacology
July 2022
Hildegard A Wulf, Caroline A Browne, Carlos A Zarate et al.
Emerging evidence has implicated the endogenous opioid system in mediating ketamine's antidepressant activity in subjects with major depressive disorder. To date, mu opioid receptors have been suggested as the primary opioid receptor of interest. However, this hypothesis relies primarily on observations that the opioid antagonist naltrexone blocked the effects of ketamine in humans and rodents....
Psychopharmacology
June 1, 2022
Genís Ona, Juliana Mendes Rocha, José Carlos Bouso et al.
41 citations
Ibogaine is the main alkaloid of the African shrub Tabernanthe iboga. It produces hallucinogenic and psychostimulant effects, but it is currently known for the anti-addictive properties. Despite the potential therapeutic effects, several cases of fatalities and serious adverse events related to ibogaine/noribogaine use can be found in the literature. Most studies consist in case reports or were...
Psychopharmacology
June 1, 2022
Alaina M Jaster, Harrison J. Elder, Samuel A Marsh et al.
41 citations
Clinical studies suggest that psychedelics exert robust therapeutic benefits in a number of psychiatric conditions including substance use disorder. Preclinical studies focused on safety and efficacy of these compounds are necessary to determine the full range of psychedelics' effects. The present study explores the behavioral pharmacology of structurally distinct psychedelics in paradigms...
Psychopharmacology
June 1, 2022
Isabel Wießner, Marcelo Falchi, Fernanda Palhano-Fontes et al.
22 citations
Stream of thought describes the nature of the mind when it is freely roaming, a mental state that is continuous and highly dynamic as in mind-wandering or free association. Classic serotonergic psychedelics are known to profoundly impact perception, cognition and language, yet their influence on the stream of thought remains largely unexplored. To elucidate the effects of LSD on the stream of...
Psychopharmacology
June 1, 2022
Pablo Mallaroni, Natasha L. Mason, F R J Vinckenbosch et al.
16 citations
Novel psychedelics (NPs) are an expanding set of compounds, presenting new challenges for drug policy and opportunities for clinical research. Unlike their classical derivatives, little is known regarding their use profiles or their subjective effects. The purpose of this study was to compile usage patterns and adverse event rates for individual NPs belonging to each of three main psychedelic...
Psychopharmacology
May 1, 2022
Sam Craft, Jason Ferris, Monica J Barratt et al.
19 citations
Synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) may be used as an alternative to natural cannabis; however, they may carry a greater risk of problematic use and withdrawal. This study aimed to characterise the withdrawal symptom profile of SCRAs and compare their profile of effect with high-potency herbal cannabis. Global Drug Survey data (2015 and 2016) were used to access a clinically...
Psychopharmacology
May 2022
Ashley M Francis, Andrea Parks, Joëlle Choueiry et al.
Long-term cannabis use has been associated with the appearance of psychotic symptoms and schizophrenia-like cognitive impairments; however these studies may be confounded by concomitant use of tobacco by cannabis users. We aimed to determine if previously observed cannabis-associated deficits in sensory gating would be seen in cannabis users with no history of tobacco use, as evidenced by...
Psychopharmacology
April 1, 2022
Jacob S. Aday, Boris D. Heifets, Steven D. Pratscher et al.
214 citations
RationalePsychedelic research continues to garner significant public and scientific interest with a growing number of clinical studies examining a wide range of conditions and disorders. However, expectancy effects and effective condition masking have been raised as critical limitations to the interpretability of the research.ObjectiveIn this article, we review the many methodological...
Psychopharmacology
March 26, 2022
Giulia Piazza, Georges Iskandar, Vanessa Hennessy et al.
14 citations
A significant obstacle to an improved understanding of pathological dissociative and psychosis-like states is the lack of readily implemented pharmacological models of these experiences. Ketamine has dissociative and psychotomimetic effects but can be difficult to use outside of medical and clinical-research facilities. Alternatively, nitrous oxide (N2O) — like ketamine, a dissociative...
Psychopharmacology
March 24, 2022
Timothy Lawn, Ottavia Dipasquale, Alexandros Vamvakas et al.
48 citations
Abstract Rationale LSD is the prototypical psychedelic. Despite a clear central role of the 5HT 2a receptor in its mechanism of action, the contributions of additional receptors for which it shows affinity and agonist activity remain unclear. Objectives We employed receptor-enriched analysis of functional connectivity by targets (REACT) to explore differences in functional connectivity (FC)...
Psychopharmacology
March 7, 2022
Aryan Sarparast, Kelan Thomas, Benjamin Malcolm et al.
85 citations
As MDMA and psilocybin continue to move through the FDA drug development process, this systematic review offers a compilation of existing research on psychiatric drug-drug interactions with MDMA or psilocybin.