The psychedelic psilocybin and light exposure have similar and synergistic effects on gene expression patterns in the visual cortex.
Molecular brain March 18, 2025 Ram Harari, Dmitriy Getselter, Evan Elliott 2 citations
Psilocybin, a psychedelic compound from hallucinogenic mushrooms, causes changes in visual perception, but the molecular mechanisms in vision-related brain regions were unknown. In mice, psilocybin induced robust gene expression changes in the visual cortex that closely mirror those caused by light exposure, even when mice were kept in the dark. These changes involve synaptic functioning and specific neuron subtypes. Combined psilocybin and light exposure produced synergistic effects on genes related to epigenetic programming. The findings suggest psilocybin alters visual cortex gene expression in ways that may affect visual perception both independently and together with visual experience.