Journal of Pharmacological Sciences
June 1, 2026
Daiki Masukawa, Rei Tajika, Yoshimi Ichimaru et al.
Hallucinogens, such as lysergic acid diethylamide, act primarily through the 5-hydroxytryptamine 2A (5-HT2A) receptor, but their regulatory mechanisms remain unclear. G protein-coupled receptor 143 (GPR143), an L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA) receptor, modulates specific GPCRs. We examined the role of GPR143 in the action of 5-HT2A receptor agonist 2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodoamphetamine (DOI)....
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
May 9, 2026
Marta Jóźwiak-Bębenista, Anna Stasiak, Monika Sienkiewicz et al.
Aging is associated with chronic, low-grade inflammation ("inflammaging"), which contributes to neuropsychiatric and neurodegenerative disorders such as depression, Alzheimer's disease, and Parkinson's disease. Conventional pharmacotherapies often provide limited benefit in older adults and are further complicated by polypharmacy and drug-drug interactions. Psilocybin, a serotonergic...
British Journal of Pharmacology
May 5, 2026
Giorgia Corli, Deborah Rudin, Dino Luethi et al.
Abstract Background and Purpose New synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) are associated with severe adverse effects, including unexpected psychiatric symptoms. These compounds are mainly active through their potent agonism on the cannabinoid receptors CB 1 and CB 2 . Recently, evidence of the direct interaction of some SCRAs with the serotonergic 5‐HT receptors has emerged....
Psychedelic Medicine
April 9, 2026
Alex C. Kwan
Psychedelics rose to prominence in the 1960s, around the same time when neurobiologists identified the midbrain raphe as the brain’s primary source of serotonin. It is therefore no surprise that early studies on classical psychedelics like d -lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) focused on their effects within this brainstem nucleus. This review traces the arc of discovery: from the initial report...
Neuroscience
April 6, 2026
Fernando Minauro-Sanmiguel, Hector Vargas-Perez
Mitochondrial dysfunction is increasingly recognized as a central driver of Alzheimer's disease (AD), contributing to neuroinflammation, synaptic failure, and energy collapse.Emerging preclinical evidence suggests that classic hallucinogens, such as psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), mescaline, may restore mitochondrial integrity by activating Serotonin...
Elife
March 31, 2026
Jessica L Maltman, Javier González-Maeso
Human neurons derived from stem cells show increased structural complexity and stronger synaptic connections after exposure to psilocin, the active metabolite of the psychedelic psilocybin.
Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology
March 30, 2026
Kenji Hashimoto, Feyza Arıcıoğlu, Mesut Çetin
Major depressive disorder remains a leading cause of disability worldwide, and current antidepressants are limited by delayed onset and incomplete response. Building on advances driven by ketamine research, renewed interest has focused on classical serotonergic psychedelics—particularly psilocybin, N,N-dimethyltryptamine (DMT), 5-methoxy-DMT, and lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)—which, under...
Elife
March 27, 2026
Målin Schmidt, Anne Hoffrichter, Mahnaz Davoudi et al.
3 citations
Psilocybin is studied as innovative medication in anxiety, substance abuse and treatment-resistant depression. Animal studies show that psychedelics promote neuronal plasticity by strengthening synaptic responses and protein synthesis. However, the exact molecular and cellular changes induced by psilocybin in the human brain are not known. Here, we treated human cortical neurons derived from...
Communications Biology
March 26, 2026
Veronica Mäki-marttunen
1 citation
Uncovering the neural basis of psychedelics’ potent effects on brain activity and conscious experience has great potential for understanding their therapeutic effects. Numerous studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) uncovered a strong effect of psychedelics on global properties of fMRI signal, but how they map to underlying neural phenomena remains to be further explored. In...
Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology
March 25, 2026
Mizuki Yamamoto, Haruka Hirakata, Koji Toda
5 citations
Major depressive disorder is a highly prevalent psychiatric condition that can affect individuals across the lifespan, yet its pathophysiology remains incompletely understood. Classical hypotheses, informed by preclinical and clinical studies, emphasized dysregulated monoaminergic neurotransmission and guided the development of widely prescribed antidepressants, including selective serotonin...