Abstract Psychedelics lead to profound changes in subjective experience and behaviour, which are typically conceptualised in psychological terms rather than corresponding to an altered brain state or a distinct state of arousal. Here, we performed chronic electrophysiological recordings from the neocortex concomitant with pupillometry in freely moving adult male mice following an injection of a...
May 1, 2025Angelica Ukaigwe, Abhishek Chauhan, S. Vinod Kumar
Abstract 5-Methoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is a psychoactive compound found in the parotid gland venom of the Sonoran Desert toad, Incilius alvarius, and certain seeds, leaves, and barks within the Amazonian rainforest. Similar to DMT containing ayahuasca, 5-MeO-DMT has become newly integrated as a spiritual sacrament in certain churches, offering a psychedelic experience to process...
Depression affects over 185 million people worldwide, with approximately one-third classified as treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Current treatments, such as oral antidepressants, often take around 3 weeks to become effective, with no immediate anti-suicidal benefits. The field urgently needs innovative therapies that provide rapid relief. Psychedelics like psilocybin and ayahuasca have...
The serotonergic psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) presumably stimulates neuroplasticity in vitro and in vivo, by which it may exert neuroprotective effects during acute ischemic stroke. Since neuroplasticity has been implicated in the mechanism of action of rehabilitative therapy in stroke recovery, a pharmacological augmentation strategy facilitating neuroplasticity could be...
As the therapeutic potential of psychedelics is becoming more established, a wider range of compounds are beginning to be investigated for their antidepressant properties. 5-Methoxy- N , N -dimethyltryptamine (5-MeO-DMT) is one such example; its unusual properties may make it a more cost-effective and practical choice for health care providers. However, the same distinctive features may mean...
N, N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a potent serotonergic psychedelic, bridges ancient wisdom and modern science. The mechanisms underlying its powerful psychedelic effects and out-of-body experiences continue to intrigue scientists. The functional role of DMT remains ambiguous. This paper explores the endogenous presence of DMT in the human body and its diverse neuroregulatory functions, which...
Renewed interest in the clinical use of psychedelic drugs acknowledges their therapeutic effectiveness. It has also provided a changing frame of reference for older psychedelic drug study data, especially regarding concentrations of N, N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) reported in rodent brains and recent discoveries in DMT receptor interactions in rat brain neurons and select brain areas. The mode of...
The transition towards the brain state induced by psychedelic drugs is frequently neglected in favor of a static description of their acute effects. We use a time-dependent whole-brain model to reproduce large-scale brain dynamics measured with fMRI from 15 volunteers under 20 mg intravenous N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a short-acting psychedelic. To capture its transient effects, we...
Ayahuasca, a traditional psychoactive Amazonian brew, usually contains N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) and β-carboline (harmine, harmaline, tetrahydroharmine) monoamine oxidase inhibitors. However, the pharmacological interactions between these compounds remain incompletely understood. In this study, we developed an ayahuasca-inspired formulation containing DMT and harmine, aiming to...
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a naturally occurring psychedelic tryptamine contained in the indigenous ayahuasca brew, has shown antidepressant effects. This open-label clinical trial investigates for the first time the efficacy of vaporized DMT in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Six TRD patients participated in an open-label, fixed-order, dose-escalation study, receiving a lower (15 mg)...