Over the past decade, research with psychedelics has gained new momentum, leading to a psychedelic renaissance in both basic and clinical research. Among these substances is ayahuasca, an Amazonian plant medicine used for millennia by indigenous people for ritualistic and healing practices, which has recently entered research labs in the Americas and Europe. Preliminary findings indicate its...
Psychedelics are known to profoundly alter perception and self-referential processing, yet their specific effects on face recognition -particularly with regard to the recognition of face familiarity-remain underexplored. This study investigates the effects of an ayahuasca-inspired novel DMT/HAR (N,N-dimethyltryptamine/Harmine) formulation and Harmine alone on face recognition and...
Recent evidence suggests that psychedelics can induce rapid and long-lasting antidepressant effects. The generally acknowledged explanation for these traits is the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, although the exact underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. This study investigates the effects of psilocin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) on synaptogenesis...
Psychedelics offer promising outcomes in psychiatry. However, the preparation of participants (set) and the environmental conditions of taking a psychedelic (setting) are not standardized. We describe the set and setting for therapeutic use of psychedelic drugs in people with psychiatric disorders. In this systematic review, articles were identified in the PubMed and Web of Science databases...
Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Survivors face disability and psychiatric sequelae resulting from ischemia-induced cell death and associated neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress. Herbal medicines have been shown to elicit neuroprotective effects following stroke due to their anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects. Preliminary evidence suggests that...
DMT induces rapid antidepressant effects, but acute sympathomimetic side effects, particularly hypertension and tachycardia, limit its use. This study describes coformulations with short-acting beta-blockers or nitrates, matched to DMT's pharmacokinetics, to mitigate peripheral cardiovascular risks without compromising central therapeutic action, facilitating safer psychedelic therapy in...
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...
N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a naturally occurring amine and psychedelic compound, found in plants, animals, and humans. While initial studies reported only trace amounts of DMT in mammalian brains, recent findings have identified alternative methylation pathways and DMT levels comparable to classical neurotransmitters in rodent brains, calling for a re-evaluation of its biological role and...
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...
Psychedelics offer a profound window into the human brain through their robust effects on perception, subjective experience, and brain activity patterns. The serotonergic psychedelic N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) induces a profoundly immersive altered state of consciousness lasting under 20 min, allowing the entire experience to be captured during a single functional magnetic resonance imaging...
Abstract N,N-Dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is a serotonergic psychedelic, known to rapidly induce short-lasting alterations in conscious experience, characterized by a profound and immersive sense of physical transcendence alongside rich and vivid auditory distortions and visual imagery. Multimodal neuroimaging data paired with dynamic analysis techniques offer a valuable approach for identifying...
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...
Biology directApril 10, 2025Matteo Ardini, Francesco Angelucci, Francesca Rea et al.
The "psychedelic renaissance" is sparking growing interest in clinical research, along with a rise in clinical trials. Substances such as 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), psilocybin and N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT) are involved. The focus of this paper is on indolethylamine N-methyltransferase (INMT), a crucial enzyme in the biosynthesis of key compounds, including DMT, which meets...
Little is known about motives of healthy volunteers to participate in psychedelic trials and how they appraise their study experience retrospectively. This paper explored reasons why healthy people register for psychedelic trials, factors that they considered to contribute to either positive or negative study experiences, and under which circumstances they would seek a psychedelic experience...
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...
Psychedelics show promise in treating psychiatric disorders. Therapeutic effects appear to involve activation of the 5-Hydroxytryptamine 2A receptor (5-HT2AR), a G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR). Several SNPs of the 5-HT2AR naturally occur, which are associated with differences in receptor function and altered responsiveness to treatments. New compounds suspected to act at the 5-HT2AR are...