Acute psilocybin increased cortical activities in rats
Frontiers in Neuroscience May 23, 2023 Junhong Liu, Yuanyuan Wang, Ke Xia et al. 17 citations
Psilocybin, the hallucinogenic compound in magic mushrooms, activates brain regions and increases functional connectivity in rats, similar to its effects in humans. Ten minutes after injection (2.0 mg/kg), positive brain activity appeared in the frontal, temporal, and parietal cortex, hippocampus, and striatum. Connectivity increased among regions including the cingulate cortex, dorsal striatum, prelimbic, and limbic areas. Psilocybin also raised levels of EGR1, a protein linked to depressive symptoms, throughout the brain, indicating widespread activation. These findings suggest the hyperactive state may underlie psilocybin's pharmacological effects.