logo
ResearchBunny Logo
Me, myself, bye: regional alterations in glutamate and the experience of ego dissolution with psilocybin

Medicine and Health

Me, myself, bye: regional alterations in glutamate and the experience of ego dissolution with psilocybin

N. L. Mason, K. P. C. Kuypers, et al.

Discover groundbreaking research by N. L. Mason and colleagues exploring how psilocybin affects glutamate levels in the brain and its fascinating ties to ego dissolution. This study reveals intriguing region-dependent changes in glutamate that may illuminate psilocybin's therapeutic potential.

00:00
00:00
~3 min • Beginner • English
Abstract
There is growing interest in the therapeutic utility of psychedelic substances, like psilocybin, for disorders characterized by distortions of the self-experience, like depression. Accumulating preclinical evidence emphasizes the role of the glutamate system in the acute action of the drug on brain and behavior; however this has never been tested in humans. Following a double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group design, we utilized an ultra-high field multimodal brain imaging approach and demonstrated that psilocybin (0.17 mg/kg) induced region-dependent alterations in glutamate, which predicted distortions in the subjective experience of one’s self (ego dissolution). Whereas higher levels of medial prefrontal cortical glutamate were associated with negatively experienced ego dissolution, lower levels in hippocampal glutamate were associated with positively experienced ego dissolution. Such findings provide further insights into the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of the psychedelic, as well as the baseline, state. Importantly, they may also provide a neurochemical basis for therapeutic effects as witnessed in ongoing clinical trials.
Publisher
Neuropsychopharmacology
Published On
Oct 26, 2020
Authors
N. L. Mason, K. P. C. Kuypers, F. Müller, J. Reckweg, D. H. Y. Tse, S. W. Toennies, N. R. P. W. Hutten, J. F. A. Jansen, P. Stiers, A. Feiding, J. G. Ramaekers
Tags
psilocybin
glutamate
ego dissolution
brain imaging
neurobiology
therapeutic effects
Listen, Learn & Level Up
Over 10,000 hours of research content in 25+ fields, available in 12+ languages.
No more digging through PDFs, just hit play and absorb the world's latest research in your language, on your time.
listen to research audio papers with researchbunny