Psychedelic Research Links March 2023

This is all the other psychedelic research that came out in March 2023. These papers don’t (yet) have their own page in our database.

You can find all interesting papers in our Papers Database.

Related Papers

In Rodents

• A Single Administration of Psilocybin Persistently Rescues Cognitive Deficits Caused by Adolescent Chronic Restraint Stress Without Long-Term Changes in Synaptic Protein Gene Expression in a Rat Experimental System with Translational Relevance to Depression (in rats, “Our data indicate that aCRS and OPS represent a powerful system with translational relevance to study depression, and that a single treatment with psilocybin has long-lasting antidepressant-like effects without long-term alterations of mRNA related to synaptic density in brain areas relevant to depression.”)
• Ketamine reduces electrophysiological network activity in cortical neuron cultures already at sub-micromolar concentrations – Impact on TrkB-ERK1/2 signaling (in rats, “…sub-micromolar ketamine concentrations did not cause an increase in neuronal network activity or TrkB-ERK1/2 phosphorylation in cortical neuron cultures that readily respond to exogenously applied BDNF. Instead, pharmacological inhibition of network activity can be readily observed with high concentration of ketamine and it is associated with reduced ERK1/2 phosphorylation.“)
• UNRAVELing the synergistic effects of psilocybin and environment on brain-wide immediate early gene expression in mice (in mice, pre-print “Main effects of context and psilocybin-treatment were robust, widespread, and spatially distinct, whereas interactions were surprisingly sparse.“)
• Influence of adrenalectomy on the gut microbiome and MDMA-induced hyperthermia (in rats, “Bilateral adrenalectomy resulted in attenuated MDMA-induced hyperthermia.“)
• Nano-hesperetin attenuates ketamine-induced schizophrenia-like symptoms in mice: participation of antioxidant parameters (in mice, “Our findings displayed that behavioral disorders induced by KET would be improved by nano-Hst treated. MDA levels were much lower after treatment with nano-Hst, and brain antioxidant levels and activities were noticeably higher. The mice treated with nano-Hst had improved outcomes in the behavioral and biochemical tests when compared to the Hst group.“)
• Lysergic Acid Diethylamide Alters the Effects of Brain Stimulation in Rodents (in rats, “Despite the acute effects of LSD disappearing after 24 h, there are still latent effects that interact with brain stimulation to create larger and distinct changes in brain activity compared with brain stimulation alone. Our proof-of-concept findings are the first to suggest that psychedelic drugs could work in combination with brain stimulation to achieve enhanced effects on brain activity and future study will assess impacts on stimulation-induced changes in behavior.“)
• The Effect of Combined Treatment of Psilocybin and Eugenol on Lipopolysaccharide-Induced Brain Inflammation in Mice (in mice, “the ELISA showed that post-treatment with psilocybin + eugenol (1:50) demonstrated the best results, decreasing the expression of multiple markers including IL-6 and IL-8. This demonstrates the anti-inflammatory effects of a combination of psilocybin and eugenol in the brain of animals with systemically induced inflammation.“)
• Traumatic brain injury-induced fear generalization in mice involves hippocampal memory trace dysfunction and is alleviated by (R,S)-ketamine (in mice, “These data show that TBI induces fear generalization by altering fear memory traces, and that this deficit can be improved with a single injection of (R,S)-ketamine.“)
• Role of 5-HT1A receptors in the basolateral amygdala on 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine-induced prosocial effects in mice (in mice, “MDMA induces prosocial effects through the stimulation of 5-HT_1A receptors in the BLA.“)
• Withania somnifera influences MDMA-induced hyperthermic, cognitive, neurotoxic and neuroinflammatory effects in mice (in mice, “Acute WSE counteracted MDMA-induced hyperthermia and memory deficits.“)
• A Postsynaptic Density Immediate Early Gene-Based Connectome Analysis of Acute NMDAR Blockade and Reversal Effect of Antipsychotic Administration (in rats, ketamine and asenapine to study antipsychotic effects)
• Receptor Binding Profiles for Tryptamine Psychedelics and Effects of 4-Propionoxy-N,N-dimethyltryptamine in Mice (in mice, binding of psilocybin analogue, “Overall, the present pharmacological profile screening data show that the tryptamine psychedelics target multiple serotonin receptors, including serotonin 1A receptors (5-HT_1A). 4-Acetoxy and 4-propionoxy analogues of 4-hydroxy compounds displayed somewhat weaker binding affinities but similar target profiles across 5-HT receptors and other identified targets.”)
• Effects of the Recurrent and Different Doses of Ketamine Exposure on Anxiety-like Behaviors and Locomotor Activity in Juvenile Rats (in rats, “50 mg/kg KET led to anxiety-like behavior and destroyed memory and spatial navigation. Ketamine doses were associated with late effects of ketamine on anxiety- like behavior in juvenile rats. “)
• Acute pharmacological profile of 2C-B-Fly-NBOMe in male Wistar rats—pharmacokinetics, effects on behaviour and thermoregulation (in rats, “2C-B-Fly-NBOMe did not cause any significant thermoregulatory changes... Its overall profile is similar to closely related analogue 2C-B and other NBOMe substances.”)
• Therapeutic mechanism of psilocybin in the treatment of depression and other psychiatric disorders (in mice, “We have shown that on the TST, a screening test for antidepressant potential, psilocybin (at a dose that significantly induced HTR) induced a strong antidepressant-like effect 48 hours post injection. Our synaptic protein findings suggest that this antidepressant effect may be related to the effect of psilocybin on synaptogenesis.“)
• 5-HT2A receptor agonism modifies neurovascular coupling and neuronal network activity in mice (in mice, testing if the non-psychedelic lisuride – a 5HT2a receptor agonist nonetheless – has effects on FC and NVC (yes it did))
• Heteroaromatic salvinorin A analogue (P-3 l) elicits antinociceptive and anxiolytic-like effects (in mice, “… our study evaluates the C(22)-fused-heteroaromatic analogue of salvinorin A [2-O-salvinorin B benzofuran-2-carboxylate] (P-3 l) in mice nociception and anxiety models while assessing possible mechanism of action.”)
• Psilocybin facilitates fear extinction in mice by promoting hippocampal neuroplasticity (in mice, “A single dose of psilocybin facilitated rapid and sustained fear extinction; this effect might be partially mediated by the promotion of hippocampal neuroplasticity.”)
• Curcumin can improve ecstasy-induced hippocampal damage in rat (in rats, “Co-administration of curcumin provided partial protection against memory impairment caused by ecstasy.”)

Chemistry

• Off-target activity of NBOMes and NBOMe analogs at the µ opioid receptor (chemistry)
• A Green Evaluation of Ecstasy Determination Methods by Using Different Greenness Criteria (chemistry, analysis)
• Electrochemistry of the Synthetic Tryptamine 5-Meo-Mipt at Glassy Carbon and Screen-Printed Electrodes: A Rapid and Simple Screening Method for Application in Forensic Analysis (chemistry, analysis)
• Ergotamine Stimulates Human 5-HT4-Serotonin Receptors and Human H2-Histamine Receptors in the Heart (safety, “These data suggest that ergotamine is in principle an agonist at human 5-HT₄-serotonin receptors as well at human H₂-histamine receptors. Ergotamine acts as an agonist on H₂-histamine receptors in the human atrium.“)
• Bioproduction platform using a novel cane toad (Rhinella marina) N-methyltransferase for psychedelic-inspired drug discovery (drug discovery)
• Synthesis and structure of 4-hy­dr­oxy-N-iso­propyl­tryptamine (4-HO-NiPT) and its precursors (novel compound by team at CaaMTech)
• Alkaloids from the entheogenic plant Peganum harmala (analysis of harmala alkaloids; misspells psilocybin in the abstract)
• Enhanced adsorption of 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine by magnetic graphene oxide-polydopamine nanohybrid modified zeolitic imidazolate framework-67 and its micro-mechanism: Experiments and calculations (chemical detection of MDMA in wastewater)
• In Silico Characterization of the Psilocybin Biosynthesis Pathway (characterize psilocybin biosynthesis pathway, “The structural characterization of these enzymes and their binding modes which emerged from this study can lead to a better understanding of psilocybin synthesis, thereby paving the way for the development of novel substrates and selective inhibitors, as well as improved biotechnological manipulation and production of psilocybin in vitro.“)
• A UPLC-MS/MS methodological approach for the analysis of 75 phenethylamines and their derivatives in hair (chemical analysis of phenethylamines (mescaline, MDMA (analogues))
• 1968-Wagner-Aghajanian-Bing-Correlation of performance test scores with tissue concentration of lysergic acid diethylamide (chemistry, “This paper offers a two compartment model of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) in volunteer students and through parameter estimation models the amount of LSD in the tissue after its initial administration through the plasma.“)
• Validated portable device for the qualitative and quantitative electrochemical detection of MDMA ready for on-site use (chemistry, MDMA detection)
• The molecular basis of the antidepressant action of the magic mushroom extract, psilocin (chemistry/review)

Perspectives/Opinions

• Is the Requirement for First-Person Experience of Psychedelic Drugs a Justified Component of a Psychedelic Therapist’s Training? (perspective, requiring psychedelics use for therapists is discouraged, but giving this option is ‘permissible’)
• Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy, Patient Vulnerability and Abuses of Power (viewpoint, pre-print”… we argue that while abuse of power unarguably happens in psychotherapeutic relationships more broadly, there are factors rendering Psy-AP modalities particularly vulnerable to such issues, while also presenting obstacles to reporting.”)
• Psychedelics for Medicinal Use: How Will This Alter the Collective Laboratory Consciousness? (Q&A, for Clinical Chemistry)
• Early Clinical Experiences of Esketamine Nasal Spray in the UK in Adults with Treatment-Resistant Major Depressive Disorder: Advisory Panel Recommendations (perspective, “Providing additional treatment options for the management of TRD, such as esketamine nasal spray, is likely to be key to improving the long-term outcomes of this underserved patient population.“)
• Mush Room for Improving Therapeutic Approaches in Psychiatry (perspective)
• Brain Health Is a Determinant of Mental Health (viewpoint)
• Frontiers in Psychodynamic Neuroscience (editorial, Carhart-Harris as co-author)
• Understanding psychedelic antidepressant action (highlight)
• Psychedelic medicine and the clinical application of hallucinogens (editorial)
• Psychedelics carry out an inside job (research highlight)
• Should Psychedelic Drugs Be Offered as a Treatment for Mental Illness? (perspective)
• Psychedelic Therapy with Psilocybin and Psychotherapy – Where do we Stand? (German, editorial)
• Role of Psychedelics in Treatment-Resistant Depression (perspective/review)
• Studying Harms Is Key to Improving Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy—Participants Call for Changes to Research Landscape (perspective, “Although psychedelic drugs generally have good safety profiles, a recent systematic review concluded that adverse events in psychedelic trials are poorly defined, not systematically assessed, and likely underreported.“)
• Ketamine For Treatment-Resistant Bipolar Depression-A Reality Check! (commentary)
• Psychedelic Literary Studies and the Poetics of Disruption (opinion)
• Not in the drug, not in the brain: Causality in psychedelic experiences from an enactive perspective (perspective/hypothesis)

Reviews

• Discovering the Potential Mechanisms of Medicinal Mushrooms Antidepressant Activity: A Review (review)
• Rethinking ketamine and esketamine action: Are they antidepressants with mood-stabilizing properties? (review)
• A narrative review of the neuropharmacology of synthetic cathinones-Popular alternatives to classical drugs of abuse (review)
• The NMDA receptor antagonists memantine and ketamine as anti-migraine agents (review, “Although further clinical trials are needed, the results suggest that ketamine or memantine may be promising molecules for the treatment of severe migraine.“)
• Examining the Rationale for Studying Psychedelic-Assisted Psychotherapy for the Treatment of Caregiver Distress (review, PAT for (informal/unpaid) caregivers)
• Psilocybin therapy for depression. A good trip? (editorial by James Rucker)
• A review of psilocybin: chemistry, clinical uses and future research directions (review)
• The Evolution and Ecology of Psilocybin in Nature (review)
• The psychedelic renaissance: a case of outlaw user innovation in the pharmaceutical industry (review/perspective)
• Bridging rapid and sustained antidepressant effects of ketamine (review)
• Preclinical perspectives on the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic actions of psilocybin in psychiatric disorders (review)
• Next generation antidepressants with novel mechanisms for treatment resistant depression (review, many spelling mistakes in abstract)
• Esmethadone-HCl (REL-1017): a promising rapid antidepressant (review, covers esmethadone (NMDAR antagonist), compared to ketamine)
• What is up with psychedelics anyway? (editorial)
• Exploring psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy in the treatment of methamphetamine use disorder (review)
• Psychedelics: preclinical insights provide directions for future research (review)
• Preclinical perspectives on the mechanisms underlying the therapeutic actions of psilocybin in psychiatric disorders (review)
• Should Psychedelic Drugs Be Offered as a Treatment for Mental Illness? (review)
• Psychedelic Treatments for Substance Use Disorder and Substance Misuse: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review (review)
• Neural Network Modulation of Ayahuasca: A Systematic Review of Human Studies (review)
• How to save a life: From neurobiological underpinnings to psychopharmacotherapies in the prevention of suicide (review, covers esketamine)
• Identifying setting factors associated with improved ibogaine safety: a systematic review of clinical studies (review, safety of ibogaine administration)
• Psychedelic Targeting of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 and Its Implications for the Treatment of Alcoholism (review, psilocybin for alcoholism, “We provide literature evidence that mGlu2 and 2AR are able to regulate each other’s downstream signaling pathways, either through monovalent crosstalk or through the formation of a 2AR-mGlu2 heteromer, and highlight epigenetic mechanisms by which 2ARs can modulate mGlu2 expression. Lastly, we discuss how these pathways might be targeted therapeutically to restore mGlu2 function in AUD patients, thereby reducing the propensity to relapse.“)
• The Future for Psychedelic Agents in the Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (review)
• The Glutamatergic System in Treatment-Resistant Depression and Comparative Effectiveness of Ketamine and Esketamine: Role of Inflammation? (review/academic book chapter)
• Contribution of serotonin 5-HT2A receptor to antidepressant effect of serotonergic psychedelics (review, Japanese)
• Rapid onset brain plasticity at novel pharmacologic targets hypothetically drives innovations for rapid onset antidepressant actions (review)
• Psychedelic Targeting of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 and Its Implications for the Treatment of Alcoholism (review, psychedelics for alcoholism, AUD)
• Systematic Review of Interventions for Demoralization in Patients With Cancer (review, covers psychedelics)
• Ethical and Practical Considerations for the Use of Psychedelics in Psychiatry (review, ethics)
• Psychedelics and the Entropic Brain Beyond the Self (review, also from religious perspective)
• It is not and never has been just about the drug: The need to emphasise psychotherapy in psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy (letter to the editor)
• The need for establishing best practices and gold standards in psychedelic medicine (perspective, need for ‘gold standard’ in PAT)
• Psychotherapy with Psilocybin for Depression: Systematic Review (review)
• Clinical pharmacological innovation in the treatment of depression (review)
• Are psychedelic medicines the reset for chronic pain? Preliminary findings and research needs (review, chronic pain)

Other

• Incidence of Intoxications in the Emergency Department of Galati Hospital with Examples of Cardiovascular Effects of MDMA Intoxication (safety, mentions MDMA but covers other ‘legal highs’ more)
• When the Party is Over: Severe Mdma-induced Dilated Cardiomyopathy (n=1, case study, MDMA x alcohol use)
• Ayahuasca in the treatment of long-term early childhood sexual abuse and bipolar disorder-A retrospective case study (n=1, case study, ayahuasca for bipolar and trauma treatment)
• The impacts of the drug war on Indigenous Peoples in Latin America: An overview (policy, “This paper aims at presenting an overview of the historic and current features concerning the relationship among original peoples, psychoactive drugs, and various forms of anti-drug practices in Latin America.“)
• Ketamine Effects on Energy Metabolism, Functional Connectivity and Working Memory in Healthy Humans (ketamine, healthy subjects research)
• The crosstalk between 5-HT2AR and mGluR2 in schizophrenia (review, schizophrenia)
• Perceived risk of LSD varies with age and race: evidence from 2019 United States cross-sectional data (secondary analysis of survey data, n=41679, “Perceived risk of lysergic acid diethylamide is unevenly distributed across the population. Stigma and racial disparities in drug-related crimes likely contribute to this. As research into potential therapeutic indications for psychedelics continues, perceived risk of use may change.“)
• Psychedelic Music and the Story of Transformation: Exploring the Mythic Dimensions of Sixties Psychedelia (thesis)
• Towards precision medicine for anxiety disorders: objective assessment, risk prediction, pharmacogenomics, and repurposed drugs (study for new drugs for anxiety, mentions ketamine as comparison)
• Ayahuasca in Western society and the metacognitive counselling approach (case study, n=1, “We suggest that the metacognitive counselling approach be taken by both clients and therapists when adopting indigenous methods of therapy which may add a significantly positive effect.“)
• Evaluation of clinical effects of Esketamine on depression in patients with missed miscarriage: A randomized, controlled, double-blind trial (n=105, “Esketamine effectively treated postoperative depressive symptoms of patients with a missed miscarriage, decreasing propofol consumption and inflammatory response.“)
• Ketamine-Assisted Group Psychotherapy for Frontline Healthcare Workers with COVID-19-Related Burnout and PTSD: A Case Series of Effectiveness/Safety for 10 Participants (n=10, case series, “We found immediate improvements treating 10 frontline healthcare workers experiencing burnout, PTSD, depression, and anxiety using weekly group KAP and integration.“)
• Experiences of microdosing psychedelics in an attempt to support wellbeing and mental health (analysis of TikToks about MDMA, “Most videos depicted MDMA neutrally (40.6%), while 34.9% were positive. MDMA intoxication was presumed in 40.2% of videos. The analysis produced seven themes, of which humour was the most common (80.5%). Harm reduction content was present in nine videos, viewed 999,700 times, and consisted of mixed subject matter.“)
• Novel Ketamine and Zinc Treatment for Anorexia Nervosa and the Potential Beneficial Interactions With the Gut Microbiome (hypothesis paper, combination of ketamine and Zinc supplementation for treating Anorexia Nervosa)
• Challenges in Drug Surveillance: Strengthening the Analysis of New Psychoactive Substances by Harmonizing Drug Checking Services in Proficiency Testing (drug checking, co-author associated with Kosmicare)
• Patternizing Psilocybin in Logic Space (“Logic Space, as described in the Geometry of Logic (Emmerson, 2023), allows us to generate a virtual logic-based vector space for notating and analyzing chemical compounds and their correlate behaviors within virtual neural nets. Interestingly, we find that the golden ratio is a relevant aspect in the digital harmonies of psilocybin.”)
• The Impact of Sedative Hypnotic Drugs on Hallucinated Sexual Assault or Sexual Fantasies Involving Health Professionals: A Systematic Review (covers ketamine, hallucinated/imagined sexual acts or -assault)
• Past Is Prologue: Ethical Issues in Pediatric Psychedelics Research and Treatment (safety, working with children and psychedelics)
• History repeating:A roadmap to address common problems in psychedelic science (meta-science)
• Differences in Existential Perspectives as a Function of Having a Mystical-Type Experience (examination of mystical experience/MTEs)
• Perceived risk of LSD use in the United States from 2015-2019: Are Americans more realistically assessing LSD’s risks? (population survey, risks of LSD seen as higher than in reality, especially for Black & Hispanic population)
• Putting Paint on the Canvas: Jung, Psychedelics, and the Subjective Experience (thesis)
• Orally Active Forms of DMT, 5-MeO-DMT, and Long-Acting MDMA for the Treatment of Neuropsychiatric Disorders (patent highlight)
• To treat or not to treat? High-potency benzodiazepine use in a case of comorbid hallucinogen persisting perception disorder and alcohol use disorder (case study, n=1, treating a patient with comorbid HPPD)
• Antidepressant Effects of Psilocybin in the Absence of Psychedelic Effects (case report, n=1)
• Effect of a single dose of intravenous ketamine on the wish to hasten death in palliative care: A case report in advanced cancer (case report, n=1, relieving the wish to hasten death (WTHD) after 70mg/70kg ketamine injection, but returned after five days)
• Cleansing Frames: How Digital ‘Consumer Reports’ of Cannabis and Psychedelics Normalise Drug-Taking and Neutralise its Counter-Cultural Potential (analysis of 3788 consumer reports on psychedelics and cannabis products, “Discussions about legality, morality and counter-cultural ideas are completely absent from the texts, even in psychedelic reports, which detail profound effects. These findings suggest that drug e-commerce is primarily a normalising force, and that widening access to banned drugs is unlikely to disseminate counter-cultural perspectives.“)
• Tunnels Through the Unconscious: an Exploration of Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy (thesis)
• Ketamine study: Protocol for naturalistic prospective multicenter study on subcutaneous ketamine infusion in depressed patients with active suicidal ideation (protocol)
• Effect of esketamine on opioid consumption and postoperative pain in thyroidectomy: a randomized controlled trial (use of ketamine to lower subsequent (medical) opioid use)
• Psychedelics as Psychiatric Medications (academic book)