Psilocybin biphasically modulates cortical and behavioral activity in mice
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) January 20, 2024 Adam T. Brockett, Nikolas A. Francis 1 citation preprint
Psilocybin, a serotonergic psychedelic, alters sensory cortex activity in awake mice in a biphasic manner. A 2 mg/kg dose initially increased both behavioral activity and neural responses to sound. Thirty minutes later, mice became behaviorally hypoactive and cortical responses to sound decreased, while neural response variance and noise correlations increased. Neuronal selectivity for auditory stimuli remained stable. The results suggest psilocybin modulates the balance between intrinsic and stimulus-driven neural activity in sensory cortex, preserving fundamental sensory processing while potentially providing a basis for auditory hallucinations at the level of neuronal micro-circuits.