Psilocybin-induced behavioral and cellular effects.
Journal of neurogenetics July 12, 2026 Albert M Dong, Yi Han, Zheng Xu et al.
Psilocybin, a psychedelic compound, rapidly inhibited mouse locomotor activity, with effects resolving within about one hour. In the nucleus accumbens, a brain region involved in reward and emotion, psilocybin increased expression of the immediate early gene c-Fos in neurons around six hours after treatment and in non-neuronal cells around 1.5 hours. Blocking serotonin 2A receptors reduced psilocybin-induced c-Fos only in neurons, while blocking serotonin 2B receptors reduced it in both neurons and non-neuronal cells. These findings suggest that serotonin 2B receptors and non-neuronal cells may play important roles in the neural circuits underlying mood disorders.