Impact of psilocybin and Psilocybe cubensis extract on gut microbiota in Wistar Han rats
Science Letters April 17, 2026 Francisco Sacadura, Cláudia Marques, Andreia Machado Brito-Da-Costa et al.
Both pure psilocybin and a Psilocybe cubensis extract altered the gut microbiota of male Wistar Han rats over two weeks. Fecal samples analyzed by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing showed that microbial community structure shifted away from baseline and control profiles at day 7 and diverged further by day 14. The effect was more pronounced in rats given pure psilocybin than in those given the whole mushroom extract, suggesting the extract's additional compounds may modulate the impact. The results indicate a time-dependent modulation of gut microbiota by both treatments, with differential magnitude between the pure compound and the whole extract.