ProliferativeEffects of the Psychedelic N,N-Dimethyltryptamine(DMT) in Human Neural Stem Cells
Figshare July 10, 2026 José Alexandre Salerno, Elizabeth R. Dominguez, Karina Karmirian et al.
A brief 24-hour exposure to the serotonergic psychedelic DMT increases proliferation of human neural stem cells derived from induced pluripotent stem cells. The effect was concentration-dependent, with half-maximal effect at 59.7 nM. DMT treatment also altered trophic gene expression, decreasing neurotrophin-3 while increasing nerve growth factor and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) transcripts and intracellular BDNF protein. After DMT was removed, the primed stem cells formed larger neurospheres, with progenitor and early neuronal marker composition matching controls by day 10. These findings demonstrate that brief DMT exposure engages proliferative and neurotrophin-associated responses in human neural stem cells at concentrations consistent with those reported for DMT-induced plasticity in other systems.