Scientists are now looking at ways that the drugs may help combat Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers are exploring that in-depth at Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Psychedelic & Consciousness Research, which launched in 2019 to study how psychedelics impact mood, behavior, brain health and cognition.
Psychedelics are hot right now: In 2019, the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) approved ketamine as a treatment for depression. And the evidence that the class of drugs may have beneficial effects on the brain continues to grow.
How Do Psychedelics Work on the Brain?
Researchers are examining several different ways that psychedelics may impact the brain. What they’ve found is that when psychedelics take effect, there are physical changes in the brain all the way down to the cellular molecular level.
“If you’re looking at cells like neurons and expose them to these drugs, they create this kind of synapto-genesis,” Dr. Albert Garcia-Romeu, assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Johns Hopkins, said. “There are new outgrowths off the neuron, so that’s one thing they’ve found in studies in people and cells derived from people.”
“The connectivity [in the default mode network] is drastically altered when the drug is on board, and you have parts of the brain communicating in different ways when they normally would not,” Garcia said. “It’s been correlated with a decrease in depression.”
But scientists still don’t fully understand how psychedelics are beneficial to the brain — and it’s perhaps what’s so exciting about the emerging research.
The study at Johns Hopkins will look at whether moderate to high doses of psilocybin can work as a therapeutic agent in treating depression among people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) or early onset Alzheimer’s.
“We’ve seen a lot of promising results using high doses [of psilocybin],” Garcia said. “We found these can have lasting therapeutic benefits including helping treat depression, anxiety and addictions.”
The researchers also aim to understand whether quality of life in general could improve among people who take the drug. It’s currently recruiting participants.
Read the full article at BeingPatient