Effect of Psilocin on Extracellular Dopamine and Serotonin Levels in the Mesoaccumbens and Mesocortical Pathway in Awake Rats
Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin October 23, 2014 Yuichi Sakashita, Kenji Abe, N. Katagiri et al. 84 citations
Psilocin, the active metabolite of psilocybin, increases extracellular dopamine in the nucleus accumbens but not in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) of awake rats. It also raises serotonin (5-HT) levels in the medial prefrontal cortex while decreasing dopamine there. Neither dopamine nor 5-HT levels change in the VTA. Behaviorally, psilocin increases the number of head twitches. The findings suggest psilocin affects the dopaminergic system in the nucleus accumbens and the serotonergic system in the medial prefrontal cortex, acting through the mesoaccumbens and mesocortical pathways.