5-MeO-DMT modifies innate behaviors and promotes structural neural plasticity in mice
OpenAlex – November 03, 2022
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
A compelling neuroscience finding reveals the short-acting hallucinogen 5-MeO-DMT profoundly impacts brain architecture. Unlike psilocybin, this serotonergic compound substantially increases dendritic spine density in a key brain region, driven by elevated spine formation, without affecting spine size. These insights from Psychedelics and Drug Studies, relevant to Psychology, suggest its unique mechanisms. It also suppresses social communication in mice. Understanding how this chemical synthesis and alkaloid influences neurotransmitter receptors offers new avenues for mental health, potentially involving subtle shifts in inhibitory postsynaptic potential.
Abstract
ABSTRACT Serotonergic psychedelics are gaining increasing interest as potential therapeutics for a range of mental illnesses. Compounds with short-lived subjective effects may be clinically useful because dosing time would be reduced, which may improve patient access. One short-acting psychedelic is 5-MeO-DMT, which has been associated with improvement in depression and anxiety symptoms in early clinical studies. However relatively little is known about the behavioral effects and neural mechanisms of 5-MeO-DMT in animal models. Here we characterized the effects of 5-MeO-DMT on innate behaviors and dendritic architecture in mice. We showed that 5-MeO-DMT induces a dose-dependent increase in head-twitch response that is shorter in duration than that induced by psilocybin at all doses tested. 5-MeO-DMT also substantially suppresses social ultrasonic vocalizations produced during mating behavior. 5-MeO-DMT produces long-lasting increases in dendritic spine density in the mouse medial frontal cortex that are driven by an elevated rate of spine formation. However, unlike psilocybin, 5-MeO-DMT did not affect the size of dendritic spines. These data provide insights into the behavioral and neural consequences underlying the action of 5-MeO-DMT and highlight similarities and differences with those of psilocybin.