According to the definition established by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) a “new psychoactive substance is considered any narcotic or psychotropic substance in pure form or in preparations, which is not controlled by the Conventions regarding drugs of the United Nations and which represent a threat to human health comparable to that realized by the...
medRxivDecember 12, 2019Ron Shore, Paul Ioudovski, Craig Goldie et al.8 citations
preprint
Abstract We conducted a scoping review on psilocybin-assisted therapy for addiction, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Psilocybin is a naturally-occurring tryptophan derivative found in species of mushroom with psycho-active properties. From 2022 records identified by database searching, 40 publications were included in the qualitative synthesis from which we identified 9...
Abstract Psychedelic agonists of serotonin receptors induce neural plasticity and synaptogenesis, but their potential to enhance learning remains uncharted. Here we show that a single dose of d-LSD, a potent serotonergic agonist, increased novel object preference in young and adult rats several days after treatment. d-LSD alone did not increase preference in old animals, but could rescue it to...
Abstract Psychotropic Psilocybe mushrooms biosynthesize their principal natural product psilocybin in five steps, among them a phosphotransfer and two methyltransfer reactions, which consume one equivalent of 5′‐adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and two equivalents of S ‐adenosyl‐ l ‐methionine (SAM). This short but co‐substrate‐intensive pathway requires nucleoside cofactor salvage to maintain high...
BackgroundIn recent years there has been growing media attention on microdosing psychedelics (e.g., LSD, psilocybin). This refers to people routinely taking small doses of psychedelic substances to improve mental health and wellbeing, or to enhance cognitive performance. Research evidence is currently limited. This paper examines microdosing motivations, dosing practices, perceived short-term...
In the quest for new treatment options for depression, attention is being paid to the potential role of psychedelic drugs. Psilocybin is of particular interest given its mechanism of action, its benefits in early trials and its relatively low side effects burden. This viewpoint outlines a number of key issues that remain to be elucidated about its potential use in the clinical environment,...
The ergoline d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is one of the most potent psychedelic drugs. 1-Acetyl-LSD (ALD-52), a derivative of LSD containing an acetyl group on the indole nitrogen, also produces psychedelic effects in humans and has about the same potency as LSD. Recently, several other 1-acyl-substitued LSD derivatives, including 1-propanoyl-LSD (1P-LSD) and 1-butanoyl-LSD (1B-LSD), have...
Abstract The psychotropic effects of Psilocybe “magic” mushrooms are caused by the l ‐tryptophan‐derived alkaloid psilocybin. Despite their significance, the secondary metabolome of these fungi is poorly understood in general. Our analysis of four Psilocybe species identified harmane, harmine, and a range of other l ‐tryptophan‐derived β‐carbolines as their natural products, which was confirmed...
Recent research demonstrated the potential of psychedelic drugs as treatment for depression and death-related anxiety and as an enhancement for well-being. While generally positive, responses to psychedelic drugs can vary according to traits, setting, and mental state (set) before and during ingestion. Most earlier models explain minimal response variation, primarily related to dosage and...
In a recent issue of the BMC Psychiatry, the evidence of effectiveness of treatments for psychiatric conditions in end-stage cancer patients was reviewed (Johnson, 2018). The review was comprehensive, and included traditional and non-traditional/alternative treatments, including herbal medicines and spirituality. However, evidence showing that classic or serotonergic hallucinogens/psychedelics...
A total of $17 million in private donations to the Hopkins center is expected to provide five years of operational funding for the center’s researchers and staff. The center will also train graduate students. With the aid of $17 million in private funds, Johns Hopkins University has launched a center to explore the potential of psychedelic compounds such as psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and...
Meditation and psychedelics have played key roles in humankind's search for self-transcendence and personal change. However, neither their possible synergistic effects, nor related state and trait predictors have been experimentally studied. To elucidate these issues, we administered double-blind the model psychedelic drug psilocybin (315 μg/kg PO) or placebo to meditators (n = 39) during a...
Background : depression and anxiety are common in patients with cancer, classical antidepressant has no proven efficacy on this type of distress compared to placebo. A Psilocybin (serotoninergic hallucinogen) based therapy appear to give promising results among recent studies. Aims : to examine if a Psilocybin based therapy could be considered for patients with cancer related depression and...
A team of researchers has turned Escherichia coli into tiny bioreactors that can manufacture large amounts of psilocybin, the ingredient in magic mushrooms that leads to their psychoactive effects (Metab. Eng. 2019, DOI: 10.1016/j.ymben.2019.09.009). With the compound in clinical trials for treating depression and other brain diseases, says J. Andrew Jones, the Miami University chemical...
We introduce a novel hypothesis which states that the therapeutic utilisation of psilocybin has beneficial effects on genetic aging. Ex hypothesi, we predict a priori that controlled psilocybin interventions exert quantifiable positive impact on leucocyte telomere length (telomeres are a robust predictor of mortality and multifarious aging-related diseases). Our hypothesising follows the...
The psychedelic research renaissance is gaining traction. Preliminary clinical studies of the hallucinogenic fungi, psilocybin, with psychological support, have indicated improvements in mood, anxiety and quality of life. A seminal, open-label study demonstrated marked reductions in depression symptoms in participants with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). The associated neurobiological...
Psilocybin, the prodrug of the psychoactive molecule psilocin, has demonstrated promising results in clinical trials for the treatment of addiction, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The development of a psilocybin production platform in a highly engineerable microbe could lead to rapid advances towards the bioproduction of psilocybin for use in ongoing clinical trials. Here, we...
Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) are compounds designed to mimic the effects of existing recreational drugs (classical psychoactive substances [CPS]), while eluding established legal frameworks. Little is known about their effects and potential harms, rendering the increasing number of NPS a challenge to policy makers and researchers alike. Quantitative studies on the motives underlying NPS...
Background and aims Given the enormous global burden of depressive illness, there is an urgent need to develop novel and more effective treatments for major depressive disorder (MDD). Recent findings have suggested that psychedelic drugs may have a role in the treatment of depressive symptoms, and a number of groups are in the process of developing protocols to study this question...
This document is my Master's Thesis for the Research Master Cognitive Neuroscience program at Maastricht University. The present study investigated the relationship between openness and its neural correlates in treatment-resistant depression preceding and following a psilocybin-assisted intervention, to (i) extent the findings of personality neuroscience from healthy to depressed population and...