BACKGROUND: Neuroinflammation is a hallmark of numerous neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders. Psychedelics have garnered recent attention for their anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective effects. However, it remains unknown whether they can prophylactically prime immune pathways to prevent subsequent neuroinflammatory responses, and whether such effects depend on serotonin 5-HT2A...
Psilocybin, chemically known as (4-phosphoryloxy-N, N-dimethyltryptamine, 4-PODMT), is derived from the psychoactive mushroom genus, Psilocybe. Of the four active metabolites, psilocin readily enters systemic circulation. The psychoactive effects of psilocin are thought to arise through partial agonist effects at the 5-HT2A receptor. Psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, are having a...
INTRODUCTION: After decades of regulatory marginalization, psychedelic compounds have reemerged as promising therapeutic tools in psychiatry, driven by unmet clinical needs in treatment-resistant mental disorders and by growing evidence of rapid and sustained effects on mood, cognition, and behavior. AREAS COVERED: This narrative review critically examined the current clinical and regulatory...
Abstract Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a debilitating condition that affects millions of veterans. A recent observational study in 30 veterans showed that a single dose of the atypical psychedelic ibogaine can be highly effective at treating PTSD up to twelve months later. Although a prior study demonstrated that ibogaine transiently alters electroencephalography (EEG) power in...
The synthesis of salvinorin A by Salvia divinorum is of considerable interest for developing pain relief, anti-opioid addiction and antidepressant medications, but progress has been compromised by limited access to plant material and the complexity of the biosynthetic pathway. Initially using S. splendens, a closely related species, the first steps in the biosynthetic pathway have been...
NeuroscienceMarch 23, 2026Eliza Jacobs-Brichford, Rachel M. Donka, Amy W. Lasek et al.
Maturation of inhibitory signaling during critical period development depends on neural activity driven by experience. Parvalbumin positive (PV+) interneurons, the dominant type of inhibitory interneuron in prefrontal cortex (PFC), undergo critical period development during adolescence. Their maturation is supported by perineuronal nets (PNNs), lattice-like extracellular matrix structures that...
Abstract Serotonergic psychedelics have attracted considerable interest as promising therapeutic agents. However, the molecular mechanisms linking their acute hallucinogenic-like effects to longer-lasting neuroplastic responses remain incompletely understood, partly because of the scarcity of native neural models suitable for mechanistic studies. Here, we developed a neural stem cell-derived in...
Current empirical approaches to consciousness rely on measures of integration, responsiveness, and reportability, all of which track relatively late-stage phenomena. This paper introduces a minimal operational criterion for detecting an earlier event: the first sustained instance of recursive closure in neural dynamics. We argue that recursion functions as a constraint-satisfying mechanism...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric illness for which rapid-acting antidepressants such as ketamine provide only transient benefit. Because κ-opioid receptor (KOR) signaling contributes to stress-related dysphoria and impaired neuroplasticity, we examined whether KOR antagonism could prolong ketamine’s antidepressant-like effects in a mouse model of adolescent...
Psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), and 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA) are psychedelic compounds with therapeutic potential for depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress. However, their relevance to endurance athletes, who face particular psychological and physical stressors, remains underexplored. This study combines a conceptual overview...