BMC neuroscience
February 5, 2024
Robin J Murphy, Kate Godfrey, Alexander D Shaw et al.
16 citations
Microdosing psychedelics is claimed to improve cognition, but clinical evidence is limited. In a placebo-controlled trial, 80 healthy adult males took 10 µg of LSD or placebo every third day for six weeks. A visual long-term potentiation (LTP) EEG paradigm measured neural plasticity indirectly. Standard event-related potential (ERP) analyses of N1b and P2 components showed no evidence of changes in LTP from LSD, either acutely or after six weeks. However, dynamic causal modeling of the ERP timecourse using a thalamocortical model revealed changes in laminar connectivity in primary visual cortex, including acute changes to self-gain and inhibitory input parameters and differences in excitatory connectivity from layer 2/3 to layer 5 between...
BMC neuroscience
November 6, 2024
W Tecumseh Fitch, Rebecca Barnstaple
9 citations
Dance in a broad sense can be defined as "mindful movement"—a form of expressive movement characterized by a specific type of conscious awareness. This proposal reframes dance beyond rhythmic movement to music, including improvisation, pantomime, tai chi, and butoh. The authors ground this definition in predictive coding and procedural learning theory: mindful movement involves a suspension of automatization. When learning a motor skill, conscious awareness is high, but overlearning suppresses it. In mindful movement, this process is inverted, reactivating unconscious movement details in conscious awareness and enabling renewed aesthetic attention. This perspective suggests potential animal analogs of dance and opens experimental avenues.
BMC neuroscience
October 8, 2024
Seong-Jin Yu, Kuo-Jen Wu, Yu-Syuan Wang et al.
8 citations
Psilocybin, the psychedelic compound in magic mushrooms, reduced brain damage and improved movement in rats after a stroke. In lab dishes, it protected rat neurons from damage caused by glutamate, a chemical that can kill brain cells during stroke. This protection was blocked by a drug that inhibits BDNF, a protein that supports neuron health. In rats, giving psilocybin before or soon after a stroke reduced the size of brain infarction and improved locomotor behavior. It also increased markers of healthy neurons and decreased markers of inflammation in the brain. The findings suggest psilocybin's protective effects involve BDNF, supporting its potential as a novel stroke treatment.
BMC neuroscience
May 26, 2025
Guanlin Huang, Dong Wang, Qiang Chen et al.
1 citation
Short-term spinal cord stimulation (stSCS) significantly improves the likelihood of tracheal decannulation in brain injury patients with disorders of consciousness. In a retrospective study of 81 tracheotomized patients, those receiving stSCS had a decannulation rate of 50.0%, compared to 25.7% in the standard care group. The difference was statistically meaningful, indicating stSCS may be a useful neuromodulation strategy to help these patients breathe without a tracheostomy tube.
BMC neuroscience
May 13, 2026
Alejo Acuña, Federico Billeri, Valentino Totaro et al.
A single dose of ibogaine (40 mg/kg) reinstates juvenile-like experience-dependent plasticity in the adult mouse visual cortex. Adult mice given ibogaine and then four days of monocular deprivation showed reduced visual acuity in the deprived eye and decreased dendritic spine density in the binocular visual cortex, effects not seen in vehicle-treated mice. Ibogaine alone did not alter these measures. The plasticity-enhancing effect was accompanied by reductions in perineuronal nets, parvalbumin-positive interneuron staining, and vesicular GABA transporter-labeled inhibitory puncta. These findings suggest ibogaine can reopen windows of heightened cortical adaptability by reducing structural and inhibitory brakes on plasticity.