A Multidisciplinary Hypothesis about Serotonergic Psychedelics. Is it Possible that a Portion of Brain Serotonin Comes From the Gut?
Journal of Integrative Neuroscience – August 31, 2022
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
Serotonergic psychedelics may facilitate a profound emotional reset in Psychology. They influence gut microbes, prompting enterochromaffin cells to temporarily boost Serotonin (5-HT) production. This surge, acting hormonally, enhances blood-brain barrier (BBB) permeability. Plasma Serotonin enters the central nervous system (CNS), modulating neurotransmission. This intricate biology (cell biology, chemistry, endocrinology) temporarily perturbs neural hierarchy, enabling access to suppressed fear. This mechanism, central to Neuroscience and Psychedelics and Drug Studies, highlights Neurotransmitter Receptor Influence on Behavior, requiring Biochemical Analysis.
Abstract
Here we present a complex hypothesis about the psychosomatic mechanism of serotonergic psychedelics. Serotonergic psychedelics affect gut microbes that produce a temporary increase of 5-HT by their host enterochromaffin cells (ECs). This increased 5-HT production—which is taken up and distributed by platelets—may work as a hormone-like regulatory signal that could influence membrane permeability in the host organs and tissues and in the brain. Increased plasma 5-HT levels could enhance permeability of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Transiently increased permeability of the BBB allows for plasma 5-HT to enter the central nervous system (CNS) and be distributed by the volume transmission. Next, this gut-derived 5-HT could modulate excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission and produce special network disintegration in the CNS. This transient perturbation of the normal neural hierarchy allows patients access to suppressed fear information and perform an emotional reset, in which the amygdale may have a key role.