Journal of Psychopharmacology
February 12, 2020
Tobias Buchborn, Taylor Lyons, Chenchen Song et al.
11 citations
Activating serotonin 2A receptors with a highly selective agonist (N-(2-hydroxybenzyl)-2,5-dimethoxy-4-cyanophenylethylamine) increases heart rate and slightly elevates neck-arterial blood flow in anesthetized mice. Raising the heat-pad temperature from 37°C to 41°C enhanced the drug's effect on blood flow while counteracting the rapid heart rate. The drug also slowed breathing, which reversed at the higher temperature, and selectively increased core body temperature only under elevated pad conditions. Arterial oxygen saturation remained unchanged. These results suggest that selective serotonin 2A receptor activation links cardiovascular changes with thermoregulation, potentially influencing brain hemodynamics relevant to the psychedelic state.
International Journal of Molecular Sciences
May 30, 2023
Tobias Buchborn, Taylor Lyons, Chenchen Song et al.
6 citations
Shaking behavior—head twitches in mice and wet dog shakes in rats—is a reliable indicator of psychedelic drug action, thought to involve serotonin 2A receptors on cortical pyramidal cells, though direct evidence in living animals has been limited. Using cell type-specific voltage imaging in awake mice, researchers expressed a voltage indicator in layer 2/3 pyramidal neurons and captured cortical activity while mice displayed psychedelic shaking behavior. Shaking was preceded by high-frequency oscillations and overlapped with low-frequency oscillations in the motor cortex, spectrally mirroring the rhythm of the shakes. These findings reveal a cortical fingerprint of serotonin-2A-receptor-mediated shaking behavior, linking a cross-mammalian psychedelic effect to cell-type specific brain dynamics.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
September 10, 2020
Irene Mollinedo-Gajate, Chenchen Song, Marcos Sintes-Rodriguez et al.
6 citations
preprint
In a mouse model of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) created by prenatal exposure to valproic acid, the acute response to the serotonergic psychedelic psilocybin was reduced compared to controls. However, psilocybin treatment reversed the social behavior deficits that are characteristic of the ASD model. These findings suggest that psilocybin may have therapeutic potential for improving social interaction in ASD.
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)
March 11, 2025
Chenchen Song, Tinya Chang, Tobias Buchborn et al.
4 citations
preprint
A single dose of the psychedelic psilocybin lastingly improves social behavior in a mouse model of autism (Cntnap2-knockout mice). This effect is blocked by inhibiting DNA methyltransferase I, suggesting an epigenetic mechanism involving DNA methylation underlies psilocybin's long-term influence on social function.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology
July 6, 2025
Callum M White, Zohre Azimi, Robert Staadt et al.
1 citation
preprint
Theta waves (4-8 Hz) in the visual cortex are linked to cognitive states and perception, but their role in cortical activity and aberrant brain states is not fully understood. Using cortex-wide voltage imaging in awake mice, 5-Hz oscillations were found in both the visual and retrosplenial cortices, occurring spontaneously and when evoked by visual stimulation. Injection of a psychotropic 5-HT2AR agonist increased spontaneous 5-Hz oscillations and boosted the power, occurrence probability, and persistence of visually evoked 5-Hz oscillations. This modulation in both areas suggests strengthened top-down control of perception, supporting a mechanism underlying perceptual filling and visual hallucinations.