Complex slow waves radically reorganise human brain dynamics under 5-MeO-DMT
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) October 7, 2024 George Blackburne, Rosalind McAlpine, Marco S. Fabus et al. 8 citations preprint
A high dose of the psychedelic drug 5-MeO-DMT radically reorganizes low-frequency brain activity in 29 healthy individuals. Inhaling 12 mg of vaporized synthetic 5-MeO-DMT caused neural activity flows to become incoherent, heterogeneous, viscous, fleeting, and nonrecurring, ceasing typical traveling waves across the cortex. This reorganization led to slower, more stable, low-dimensional broadband activity with increased energy barriers to rapid global shifts. The findings provide the first detailed empirical account of how 5-MeO-DMT alters human brain dynamics, revealing novel cortical slow wave behaviors.