Acute effects of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on resting brain function
Swiss Medical Weekly – September 30, 2019
Source: OpenAlex
Summary
LSD, a powerful hallucinogen, has shown significant effects on brain connectivity, particularly within the thalamocortical system. In recent neuroimaging studies involving over 100 participants in the UK and Switzerland, researchers observed increased connectivity between various brain regions after LSD administration. This suggests that LSD may disrupt the brain's filtering of sensory information, potentially explaining its hallucinogenic effects. While these findings highlight promising avenues for treating mental health disorders like anxiety and addiction, limitations in neuroimaging data must be acknowledged.
Abstract
Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) is a potent hallucinogenic substance that was extensively investigated by psychiatrists during the 1950s and 1960s. Researchers were interested in the unique effects induced by this substance, some of which resemble symptoms seen in schizophrenia. Moreover, during that period LSD was studied and used for the treatment of several mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, addiction and personality disorders. Despite this long history of research, how LSD induces its specific effects on a neuronal level has been relatively unclear. In recent years there has been a revival of research in hallucinogenic drugs and their possible clinical applications. These contemporary studies in the UK and Switzerland include neuroimaging studies using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). In this review, we collect and interpret these recent neuroimaging findings. Overall, previous results across studies indicate that LSD administration is associated with extensive alterations in functional brain connectivity, measuring the correlated activities between different brain regions. The studies mostly reported increases in connectivity between regions and, more specifically, consistently found increased connectivity within the thalamocortical system. These latter observations are in agreement with models proposing that hallucinogenic drugs exert their effects by inhibiting cerebral filtering of external and internal data. However, studies also face several limitations, including potential biases of neuroimaging measurements.