Scientists have long sought the secrets of the 5-HT 2A serotonin receptor—a central nervous system receptor that binds hallucinogenic compounds, including LSD and psilocybin. Many hope to discover why these molecules cause hallucinations when they bind to 5-HT 2A while other compounds that bind to the receptor, including serotonin, do not. LSD and psilocybin have been shown to treat mood...
Psilocybin, a serotonergic agonist, was granted a "breakthrough therapy" status by the Food and Drug Administration for clinical trials involving major depressive disorder and treatment-resistant depression. The direct phosphorylation of psilocin to psilocybin that uses a fast crystallization associated with a kinetically controlled process resulted in a smaller particle size distribution....
Psilocybin-containing mushrooms have been consumed by various cultures in many different parts of the world for thousands of years. Psilocybin, a classic psychedelic, contains unique psychoactive properties and has been incorporated into religious ceremonies and investigated for its medicinal value. In the mid-20th century, psilocybin, along with most other classic psychedelics (5HT-2A...
The unfortunate reality of the mental health crisis plaguing much of the world, in tandem with and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic [1–3], highlights the limited effective pharmacologic treatments in our toolbox for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). There are only two FDA-approved medications indicated for PTSD, both selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs). Though these...
Abstract Renewed interest in the effects of psychedelics in the treatment of psychiatric disorders warrants a better understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying the effects of these substances. During the past two decades, state-of-the-art studies of animals and humans have yielded new important insights into the molecular, cellular, and systems-level actions of psychedelic...
Abstract Serotonergic (or “ classic” ) psychedelics have struck many researchers as raising significant philosophical questions that, until recently, were largely unexplored by academic philosophers. This paper provides an overview of four emerging lines of research at the intersection of academic philosophy and psychedelic science that have gained considerable traction in the last decade:...
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a difficult to treat chronic pain condition for which there is strong interest in alternative treatments. There is growing interest in the potential of psychedelic substances (e.g., psilocybin) in conjunction with psychotherapy to treat chronic pain. Via a cross-sectional, anonymous, online survey, we aimed to characterize knowledge, perceptions, and past use of...
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with cognitive deficits, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Animal models have recapitulated features of PTSD, but no comparative RNA sequencing analysis of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in the brain between PTSD and animal models of traumatic stress has been carried out. We compared DEGs from the prefrontal cortex (PFC) of an...
The healthcare field and society at large are witnessing a resurgence of interest in the effects and applications of psychedelic therapies in a wide range of settings. In the 1950s and 1960s, research was conducted to explore different applications for psychedelics, such as lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and mescaline, in the healthcare setting. However, psychedelic research was dramatically...
Scientific knowledge about cannabidiol (CBD) demonstrates that CBD is a substance that is not pharmacologically inert. If it does not act efficiently on cannabinoid receptors (those where tetrahydrocannabidol [THC] is fixed), it acts on brain receptors, especially on dopamine and serotonin receptors, making it a psychoactive product in its own right. Its consumption can thus have psychoactive...