Repeated low doses of psilocybin increase resilience to stress, lower compulsive actions, and strengthen cortical connections to the paraventricular thalamic nucleus in rats.
Molecular psychiatry September 1, 2023 Kat F Kiilerich, Joe Lorenz, Malthe B Scharff et al. 48 citations
Repeated low doses of psilocybin, similar to human microdosing, were tested in rats. The regimen was well tolerated, causing no signs of anhedonia, anxiety, or altered movement, and did not downregulate or desensitize 5-HT2A receptors. The treatment increased resilience to injection stress, reduced self-grooming (a proxy for compulsive actions), and raised 5-HT7 receptor expression and synaptic density in the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus. These findings support anecdotal reports of benefits from psilocybin microdosing and suggest a possible physiological mechanism.