Frontiers in Pharmacology
April 18, 2023
María Salud García-Gutiérrez, Daniela Navarro, Amaya Austrich-Olivares et al.
Introduction: This study aims to further characterize cannabidiol’s pharmacological and molecular profile as an antidepressant.Methods: Effects of cannabidiol (CBD), alone or combined with sertraline (STR), were evaluated in male CD1 mice (n = 48) exposed to an unpredictable chronic mild stress (UCMS) procedure. Once the model was established (4 weeks), mice received CBD (20 mg·kg-1, i.p.), STR...
Frontiers in Neuroscience
April 17, 2023
Marvin M. Urban, Moritz R. Stingl, Marcus W. Meinhardt
47 citations
The potential of psychedelics to persistently treat substance use disorders is known since the 1960s. However, the biological mechanisms responsible for their therapeutic effects have not yet been fully elucidated. While it is known that serotonergic hallucinogens induce changes in gene expression and neuroplasticity, particularly in prefrontal regions, theories on how specifically this...
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
April 2023
Nicole A Lookfong, Wesley M Raup-Konsavage, Yuval Silberman
Background: The endocannabinoid (eCB) system plays an important role in homeostatic regulation of anxiety and stress responses; however, the eCB system can be disrupted following traumatic stressors. Additionally, traumatic or chronic stressors that occur during adulthood or early life can cause long-lasting disturbances in the eCB system. These alterations interfere with...
Neurochemical Research
April 1, 2023
Jared VanderZwaag, Torin Halvorson, Kira Dolhan et al.
25 citations
There is much excitement surrounding recent research of promising, mechanistically novel psychotherapeutics - psychedelic, anesthetic, and dissociative agents - as they have demonstrated surprising efficacy in treating central nervous system (CNS) disorders, such as mood disorders and addiction. However, the mechanisms by which these drugs provide such profound psychological benefits are still...
Cell Reports
March 28, 2023
Vern Lewis, Emma M. Bonniwell, Janelle K. Lanham et al.
129 citations
Hallucinations limit widespread therapeutic use of psychedelics as rapidly acting antidepressants. Here we profiled the non-hallucinogenic lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) analog 2-bromo-LSD (2-Br-LSD) at more than 33 aminergic G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). 2-Br-LSD shows partial agonism at several aminergic GPCRs, including 5-HT2A, and does not induce the head-twitch response (HTR) in...
Frontiers in Pharmacology
March 16, 2023
Leandro Val Sayson, Darlene Mae Ortiz, Hyun Jun Lee et al.
4 citations
Synthetic cannabinoids have exhibited unpredictable abuse liabilities, especially self-administration (SA) responses in normal rodent models, despite seemingly inducing addiction-like effects in humans. Thus, an efficient pre-clinical model must be developed to determine cannabinoid abuse potential in animals and describe the mechanism that may mediate cannabinoid sensitivity. The Cryab...
Trends in Cognitive Sciences
February 3, 2023
Manesh Girn, Fernando E. Rosas, Richard E. Daws et al.
76 citations
Recent findings suggesting the potential transdiagnostic efficacy of psychedelic-assisted therapy have fostered the need to deepen our understanding of psychedelic brain action. Functional neuroimaging investigations have found that psychedelics reduce the functional segregation of large-scale brain networks. However, beyond this general trend, findings have been largely inconsistent. We argue...
ACS Chemical Neuroscience
February 1, 2023
Lindsay P. Cameron, Seona D Patel, Maxemiliano V. Vargas et al.
113 citations
Psychedelic compounds have displayed antidepressant potential in both humans and rodents. Despite their promise, psychedelics can induce undesired effects that pose safety concerns and limit their clinical scalability. The rational development of optimized psychedelic-related medicines will require a full mechanistic understanding of how these molecules produce therapeutic effects. While the...
Progress in Brain Research
2023
Kenji Hashimoto
Neuroinflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of major depressive disorder (MDD), including treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Patients with TRD have higher levels of inflammatory biomarkers compared with responders to antidepressants. Multiple lines of evidence suggest that the gut-microbiota-brain axis via the vagus nerve plays a key role in neuroinflammation. Preclinical and...
Ibrain
2023
Bhuvi Sachdeva, Punya Sachdeva, Shampa Ghosh et al.
27 citations
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are the most common causes of emotional distress that impair an individual's quality of life. MDD is a chronic mental illness that affects 300 million people across the world. Clinical manifestations of MDD include fatigue, loss of interest in routine tasks, psychomotor agitation, impaired ability to focus, suicidal...