Dissociating the Hallucinogenic and Neuroplastic Effects of Psilocybin.
bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology June 18, 2026 Jacob J Baker, Emily Kogan, Shaorong Ma et al.
Psilocybin promotes the formation and maturation of synapses while accelerating the elimination of pre-existing synapses. Signaling through serotonin 2A receptors in cortical layer 5 pyramidal neurons is necessary and sufficient for this synaptic remodeling but is not required for the head-twitch response, a rodent proxy for hallucination.