Communications Biology
June 20, 2023
Joel Frohlich, Pedro A. M. Mediano, Francesco Bavato et al.
16 citations
Low-frequency delta-band neural activity is typically associated with loss of consciousness and cortical down states, especially when diffuse and high amplitude. However, several classes of pharmacological agents—including antiepileptic drugs, GABA B receptor activators, acetylcholine receptor blockers, and psychedelics—can produce neural activity resembling cortical down states while participants remain conscious. Among these substances safe for healthy volunteers, some may serve as valuable research tools for determining which neural activity patterns are sufficient for consciousness or its absence.
Communications Biology
November 6, 2025
Alex Jinich‐diamant, Sierra Simpson, Juan Pablo Zuniga-Hertz et al.
4 citations
A 7-day retreat combining meditation, reconceptualization, and open-label placebo healing rituals produced broad short-term neural and molecular changes in 20 healthy participants. Meditation reduced functional integration in the default mode and salience networks and decreased whole-brain modularity. Post-intervention plasma increased neurite outgrowth, enhanced glycolytic metabolism, and induced upregulation of BDNF, inflammatory, anti-inflammatory, and endogenous opioid pathways, while modulating tryptophan metabolism and neurotransmission-associated exosome miRNA transcripts. These changes suggest enhanced neuroplasticity, metabolic reprogramming, and modulation of functional cell signaling pathways, highlighting the potential of mind-body techniques to affect neural circuits and pathways important to health and well-being.
Communications Biology
March 26, 2026
Veronica Mäki-marttunen
1 citation
Psilocybin, a psychedelic compound that activates 5HT2a serotonin receptors, alters the speed and pattern of traveling waves of neural activity across the cortex. Using fMRI data from a publicly available dataset, researchers found that psilocybin increased the propagation speed of infraslow cortical activity, which was linked to greater overall functional connectivity and a contraction of the principal gradient—a measure of how brain regions are organized along a sensory-to-association axis. The distribution of 5HT2a receptors in the cortex may help explain these changes. The results connect large-scale brain activity patterns, global neural events, and receptor action, offering insights into how psychedelics produce their effects.
Communications Biology
July 3, 2026
Fengkai He, Xiaojun Xu, Y Y Zhu et al.
Depression involves disrupted communication across brain circuits, and ketamine can rapidly alleviate depressive symptoms. A new analytical framework, the frequency-varying multilayer brain functional network (FMBFN), was developed to examine how brain regions coordinate activity both within and across different frequency bands. Using local field potential recordings from eight brain regions in male mice subjected to chronic social defeat stress (a model of depression), the framework revealed that stress led to frequency-specific hyperconnectivity and altered network integration during social interaction. Ketamine reversed social avoidance and reorganized the multilayer network topology, with the lateral habenula showing a response pattern opposite to other regions. Exploratory analysis also linked ketamine-associated gut microbial changes to global network topology, suggesting possible gut-brain associations.
Communications Biology
June 12, 2026
Saketh Malipeddi, Arun Sasidharan, Bianca Ventura et al.
Advanced meditators from the Isha Yoga tradition report stronger non-dual experiences—where the boundary between self and environment dissolves—during breath-watching meditation compared to novices and meditation-naïve controls. Using EEG-based intrinsic neural timescales (INT), researchers found that across all participants, INTs are longer during internal attention (breath-watching) than during an external cognitive task. However, advanced meditators show similar INT durations between internal and external attention, and this reduced difference correlates with stronger reported non-dual experiences. The findings suggest that similar intrinsic neural timescale durations across internal and external attention may be a neural signature of non-duality.
Communications Biology
February 26, 2026
Tianjie Li, Erin. E. Reynolds, Ziqi Wang et al.
A fungal enzyme called PcncAAAD, which decarboxylates aromatic amino acids, is activated by calcium through two metal-binding sites. The primary activation site (site A) lies between the N-terminal domain and a unique C-terminal appendage; binding calcium there stabilizes a 'lid-rim' structure that preserves the substrate-binding pocket. A secondary site (site B) within the C-terminal domain helps stabilize the enzyme's overall structure. Computer simulations and lab tests show that disrupting site A or the lid-rim severely distorts the active site and reduces or eliminates activity. Sodium does not activate the enzyme. The work clarifies how calcium activates this enzyme and may guide engineering of similar enzymes for making aromatic amino acid derivatives.