A single dose of psilocin, the active compound in psychedelic mushrooms, alters sleep architecture in mice. Psilocin delayed the onset of REM sleep and reduced NREM sleep maintenance for about three hours after injection, without causing long-term changes in sleep quantity. The acute brain response featured enhanced oscillations around 4 Hz. When mice were sleep-deprived, psilocin did not change the overall amount of sleep rebound, but it slowed the recovery of slow wave activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. These findings suggest that psilocin affects both global vigilance and local sleep homeostasis, which may relate to its potential antidepressant effects.
Psychedelics like 5-MeO-DMT induce a dissociated state of arousal in mice, combining features of waking and sleep. In freely moving adult male mice, chronic neocortical recordings and pupillometry showed that the drug triggered prominent slow oscillations in the cortex and marked pupil dilation while the animals remained awake and moving. REM sleep was initially suppressed but overcompensated in the following 48 hours. This dissociated brain state, mixing waking and sleep characteristics, may underlie psychedelic effects such as dream-like hallucinations and reopening of the critical period for plasticity.