Ibogaine administration following repeated morphine administration upregulates myelination markers 2', 3'-cyclic nucleotide 3'-phosphodiesterase (CNP) and myelin basic protein (MBP) mRNA and protein expression in the internal capsule of Sprague Dawley rats.
Frontiers in neuroscience January 1, 2024 Demi Govender, Leila Moloko, Maria Papathanasopoulos et al. 10 citations
Ibogaine, a psychedelic alkaloid being investigated for opioid use disorder, upregulates genes and proteins involved in remyelination in rats. In an experiment with 50 Sprague Dawley rats, morphine upregulated CNPase, while ibogaine alone had no effect on CNP mRNA or protein expression. However, ibogaine given after repeated morphine immediately increased CNP mRNA expression, which diminished after 72 hours but resulted in highly significant upregulation of CNPase protein at 72 hours. Ibogaine alone significantly upregulated protein expression but downregulated MBP mRNA expression. Ibogaine after morphine significantly upregulated MBP mRNA expression, increasing at 72 hours and leading to highly significant upregulation of MBP protein at 72 hours. These findings indicate ibogaine can upregulate remyelination-related genes and proteins after opioid use.