According to a new study, using psychedelic drugs like LSD develops new connections between neurons in the brain. While it is clear that psychotropic drugs cannot be used as such in psychiatric care, studying their components may advance research.
Apple boss Steve Jobs* Would he have been so visionary if he hadn’t used LSD? Probably not, according to a new study published in the journal Cell Reports. Consumption of psychedelic drugs* allow the development of new connections of neurons in the brain.
Researchers found that DOI (amphetamine), DMT (dimethyltryptamine) and LSD (diethylamide) could modify brain cells in rats and flies, making neurons more likely to branch out and connect to each other. others. Their work supports the theory that these products may help fight depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“One of the hallmarks of depression is that neurites in the prefrontal cortex – a key region of the brain that regulates emotions, mood, and anxiety – tend to shrivel,” says David E. Olson, author of the research. These brain changes also appear in anxiety, drug addiction, and post-traumatic stress disorder. The neurite is a nerve fiber constituting the extension of the neuron being formed.
“Psychotropic drugs cannot be used as is”
The team have not tested the substances on humans, but believe that the biological mechanisms that respond to psychedelics are almost the same across species. “It is obvious that psychotropic drugs cannot be used as such in psychiatric care, in particular because of their hallucinogenic power”, specifies David E. Olson. “However, studying their components more closely would surely advance research in this area.”
A team from Imperial College London (United Kingdom) had previously studied the brains of humans who had ingested LSD. 20 volunteers who had already consumed these substances were selected to this research, published in the journal PNAS. Dr. Carhart-Harris’s team asked a group to swallow either a placebo or 75 mg of LSD. The participants’ brains were then studied by MRI and magnetoencephalography, which analyze the magnetic fields emitted by neurons. “Normally our brain works through independent networks responsible for a specific function like sight, movement or hearing. But with LSD, this separation crumbles and is replaced by a more unified network,” concludes Dr. Carhart-Harris.
Psychedelics such as LSD, DMT, and DOI promote neural branching, spine sprouting and synapse formation in cultured neurons and in fruit flies. @CellReports https://t.co/J6Ux50OKT4 pic.twitter.com/lCq4paDWs8
– Satchin Panda (@SatchinPanda) June 13, 2018
* In his official biography, Steve Jobs says: “taking LSD was a magical time in my life”.
* This article is informative and does not in any way recommend the use of drugs to our readers. Their consumption constitutes an offense and is strongly discouraged for health.
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