Science Translational Medicine
December 11, 2019
Boris D. Heifets, Juliana S. Salgado, Madison Taylor et al.
119 citations
MDMA's prosocial effects can be separated from its addictive properties by using fenfluramine, a selective serotonin-releasing compound. This finding reveals a conserved neuronal pathway that could be targeted to develop new therapeutics with limited abuse liability, offering a potential strategy for creating safer treatments that promote social connection without the risks of addiction.
Cell
July 1, 2016
Boris D. Heifets, Robert C. Malenka
41 citations
MDMA (ecstasy) is known for inducing feelings of closeness and empathy. Examining how it works may lead to new treatments for psychiatric disorders involving social behavior deficits.
JAMA Psychiatry
June 26, 2019
Boris D. Heifets, Robert C. Malenka
28 citations
Methylenedioxy-methamphetamine (MDMA) and psilocybin may offer therapeutic benefits for mental health conditions, but their approval for treatment would require establishing appropriate mental health care infrastructures. This includes trained therapists, treatment protocols, and regulatory frameworks to ensure safe and effective use. The authors outline the necessary preparations for integrating these substances into clinical practice.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
February 21, 2023
Daniel Ryskamp Rijsketic, Austen B. Casey, Daniel A. N. Barbosa et al.
10 citations
preprint
Psilocybin, given to mice in either their home cage or an enriched environment, increased neural activity in brain regions including the neocortex, caudoputamen, central amygdala, and parasubthalamic nucleus while decreasing activity in the hypothalamus, cortical amygdala, striatum, and pallidum. The effects of both the drug and the environment were strong and widespread but largely independent, with very few interactions between context and psilocybin treatment. This suggests that the brain's response to psilocybin is not strongly modulated by environmental setting at the level of immediate early gene expression.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
July 7, 2025
Akila Ram, Austen B. Casey, Robert C. Malenka et al.
2 citations
preprint
Psilocybin does not produce direct analgesic effects in mice, despite suggestions from clinical and preclinical data that it might help chronic pain. Across multiple pain assays and models of acute and chronic inflammatory, neuropathic, and musculoskeletal pain, no dose of psilocybin was analgesic. The finding indicates that any therapeutic benefits for chronic pain syndromes are unlikely to come from direct pain relief.
Journal of Pain
April 1, 2025
Nicholas Gregory, Tyler E. Girard, Akila Ram et al.
1 citation
No Summary
Neuro-Oncology
November 1, 2025
Richard Drexler, Belgin Yalçın, Rebecca Mancusi et al.
High-grade gliomas integrate into serotonergic circuits via dorsal and median raphe projections, which drive calcium-mediated proliferation. Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic selective for 5-HT2A with activity at TrkB, significantly increased proliferation in glioblastoma and DMG xenografts after a single dose, with effects persisting for at least two weeks. Calcium transients in glioma cells appeared within 30 minutes and remained detectable for two weeks. Genetic knockout of 5-HT2A nearly abolished psilocybin-induced proliferation, while TrkB knockout partially reduced it. These findings indicate that psilocybin promotes sustained glioma growth primarily through 5-HT2A activation, with a modulatory role for TrkB, suggesting caution for clinical use in brain tumor patients.