Brain Sciences
September 30, 2023
Cynthia J Price, Gunes Sevinc, Norman A. S. Farb
Interoception, the representation of the body's internal state, is increasingly recognized for informing subjective wellbeing and promoting regulatory behavior. However, few empirical reports characterize interoceptive neural networks, and fewer demonstrate changes to these networks in response to an efficacious intervention. Using a two-group randomized controlled trial, this pilot study...
ACS Medicinal Chemistry Letters
September 14, 2023
Robert B. Kargbo
3 citations
Neurological diseases often involve changes in synaptic connectivity and plasticity. Psychoplastogens, substances that stimulate neuronal growth and enhance neural structures, show promise in mitigating these changes. They activate key biological targets, including AMPA receptors, TrkB, and mTOR. Substances like ketamine, scopolamine, N,N-dimethyltryptamine, and rapastinel have...
European Journal of Psychotraumatology
August 29, 2023
Lihong Jiang, Amanda J. F. Tamman, Christopher L. Averill et al.
8 citations
Background: Early trauma predicts poor psychological and physical health. Glutamatergic synaptic processes offer one avenue for understanding this relationship, given glutamate's abundance and involvement in reward and stress sensitivity, emotion, and learning. Trauma-induced glutamatergic excitotoxicity may alter neuroplasticity and approach/avoidance tendencies, increasing risk for...
Journal of Education, Health and Sport
August 8, 2023
Anna Jaremek, Joanna Kępa, Norbert Kandefer et al.
In this review paper, we delve into the potential applicability of psilocybin - a naturally synthesized psychedelic substance found within select species of fungi, as a prospective avenue for depression treatment. Depression, a widespread psychological malady affecting countless individuals across the globe, often proves stubborn against existing treatment modalities, necessitating exploration...
Addiction Biology
August 2023
Constanza Garcia-Keller, Madeline Hohmeister, Kailyn Seidling et al.
Drugs of abuse induce cell type-specific adaptations in D1- and D2-medium spiny neurons (MSNs) in the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore) that can bias signalling towards D1-MSNs and enhance relapse vulnerability. Whether Δ9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) use initiates similar neuroadaptations is unknown. D1- and D2-Cre transgenic rats were transfected with Cre-dependent reporters and trained to...
eNeuro
August 2023
Jenessa N Johnston, Josh Allen, Irene Shkolnikov et al.
Over the past decade, ketamine, an NMDA receptor antagonist, has demonstrated fast-acting antidepressant effects previously unseen with monoaminergic-based therapeutics. Concerns regarding psychotomimetic effects limit the use of ketamine for certain patient populations. Reelin, an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, has shown promise as a putative fast-acting antidepressant in a model of...
Neuropsychopharmacology
July 24, 2023
Boris D. Heifets, David E. Olson
66 citations
Recent clinical and preclinical evidence suggests that psychedelics and entactogens may produce both rapid and sustained therapeutic effects across several indications. Currently, there is a disconnect between how these compounds are used in the clinic and how they are studied in preclinical species, which has led to a gap in our mechanistic understanding of how these compounds might positively...
FOCUS: The Journal of Lifelong Learning in Psychiatry
July 1, 2023
Lauren Lepow, Hirofumi Morishita, Rachel Yehuda
9 citations
As psychedelic compounds gain traction in psychiatry, there is a need to consider the active mechanism to explain the effect observed in randomized clinical trials. Traditionally, biological psychiatry has asked how compounds affect the causal pathways of illness to reduce symptoms and therefore focus on analysis of the pharmacologic properties. In psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (PAP),...
Frontiers in Psychiatry
June 26, 2023
Simon Zhornitsky, Henrique Nunes Pereira Oliva, Laura A. Jayne et al.
12 citations
Background Ketamine and psychedelics have abuse liability. They can also induce “transformative experiences” where individuals experience enhanced states of awareness. This enhanced awareness can lead to changes in preexisting behavioral patterns which could be beneficial in the treatment of substance use disorders (SUDs). Preclinical and clinical studies suggest that ketamine and psychedelics...
Nature Neuroscience
June 1, 2023
Rafael Moliner, Mykhailo Girych, Vera Kovaleva et al.
439 citations
Abstract Psychedelics produce fast and persistent antidepressant effects and induce neuroplasticity resembling the effects of clinically approved antidepressants. We recently reported that pharmacologically diverse antidepressants, including fluoxetine and ketamine, act by binding to TrkB, the receptor for BDNF. Here we show that lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and psilocin directly bind to...