Structural plasticity and enhanced fear extinction following psilocybin in chronically stressed mice.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology April 22, 2026 Cory A Knox, Samuel C Woodburn, Amelia D Gilbert et al.
Psilocybin, a classic psychedelic, increases dendritic spine density in frontal cortical neurons and facilitates fear extinction after chronic restraint stress in mice, demonstrating its effects in a translationally relevant animal model. Prior studies had largely examined stress-naive animals, so these findings show that psilocybin can promote neural plasticity and behavioral recovery even after chronic stress.