Department of Cell & Systems Biology, University of Toronto, Canada; Department of Psychology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Canada. Electronic address: robert.gerlai@utoronto.ca.
2 papers in the library · 8 citations · publishing 2023-2024
Psilocybin, a psychedelic drug, is gaining interest for both recreational and clinical use. This review examines the potential of using zebrafish as a model organism in psilocybin research. It covers behavioral tests in zebrafish relevant to anxiety and social behavior, genetic manipulation methods for studying psilocybin's effects, known mechanisms of the drug, and its safety and toxicity profile. The review also discusses how psilocybin could be used in preclinical research for affective disorders. The authors conclude that zebrafish hold promise for future preclinical studies of psychedelic drugs.
A study used high-tech video-tracking to detect behavioral changes in larval zebrafish exposed to psilocybin, a psychoactive drug. The research sits at the intersection of two growing fields: psilocybin research and zebrafish behavioral neuroscience. The paper reports that psilocybin induces measurable behavioral alterations in the fish, though the specific direction and magnitude of these changes are not detailed in the abstract. The work represents an emerging area of study, combining a model organism with advanced tracking technology to explore the effects of a psychedelic compound.