Psilocybin as a Treatment for Repetitive Mild Head Injury: Evidence from Neuroradiology and Molecular Biology
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) February 6, 2025 Bryce Axe, Ashwath Maheswari, Reagan Walhof et al. 3 citations preprint
Repetitive mild head injuries from sports, accidents, or military service cause lasting cognitive, motor, and behavioral problems and raise the risk of dementia, Parkinson's disease, and chronic traumatic encephalopathy, yet no approved treatment exists. Testing the psychedelic psilocybin in adult female rats with mild repetitive head injury, the authors report that psilocybin reduces vasogenic edema, restores normal vascular reactivity and functional connectivity, reduces buildup of phosphorylated tau, increases levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and its receptor TrkB, and modulates lipid signaling molecules. These findings suggest psilocybin may have healing effects on head injury-related brain damage.