How do treatments for mood and anxiety disorders derived from psilocybin exert their effects in the brain?
With a need for new and effective treatments for mental health conditions such as depression and anxiety, researchers are investigating the antidepressant and anxiolytic properties of drugs such as psilocybin.
Current drug treatments for these disorders, such as serotonin modulators and benzodiazepines, are slow to take effect, and when they do, they often have unwanted side effects.
Additionally, many people with depression don’t respond at all to these medications. However, treatments derived from the psychedelic compound psilocybin and the psychoactive drug cannabis may be promising for a range of mental health disorders. Neuroscientists are probing how they work in the brain.
New findings show that:
- The altered consciousness effects of psilocybin may not be necessary for it to produce anti-anxiety and anti-depressive effects in mice. (Katherine M. Nautiyal, Dartmouth College)
Lisa Monteggia, the Barlow Family Director of the Vanderbilt Brain Institute and professor pharmacology at Vanderbilt University, who studies mechanisms underlying antidepressant efficacy, commented: “As a field, we are thinking about psilocybin and cannabis in new ways and not only evaluating them for their potential therapeutic benefit but probing how they exert their effects in the brain.
“The research presented today is contributing to the growing evidence that these compounds may offer new avenues for symptom relief in many mental health conditions.”
This research was supported by national funding agencies including the National Institutes of Health and private funding organisations. Find out more about social behaviour and the brain on BrainFacts.org.
Presented research
Investigating Altered Consciousness and the Role of Serotonin Receptors in the Therapeutic Effects and Mechanisms of Actions of Psilocybin
Katherine M. Nautiyal, katherine.nautiyal@dartmouth.edu, Abstract 229.05
Psilocybin, the active psychedelic compound in “magic mushrooms,” has rapid and long-lasting benefits for those with depression and anxiety. However, the way it works and whether the compound’s therapeutic effects are independent of its effects on consciousness (i.e., hallucinations) is unknown.
Researchers injected mice with psilocybin under anesthesia. Afterward, the mice showed fewer anxiety-related behaviors, decreased anhedonia, and increased motivation for rewards, suggesting that the conscious experience of the drug may not be required for it to induce anti-depressive and anti-anxiety effects.
Researchers tested the role of the serotonin 1B receptor in psilocybin’s effects by administering psilocybin to genetically engineered mice lacking this receptor.
