Science

More evidence of the chemical compound variability in magic mushrooms

October 27, 2021By

…the variability of compounds in magic mushrooms… environmental variables such as light and the type of growing medium influence the presence and amount of certain compounds… in the mushroom fruiting bodies… …isolated and tested for multiple compounds of interest in the mushroom including the tryptamine alkaloids: baeocystin, norbaeocystin, norpsilocin, aeruginascin, 4-HO-TMT, 4-hydroxytryptamine. The beta-carbolines: harmine, harmane, norharmane, harmol. Original Article (Psychedelic Science…

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Science

Salvia divinorum [&] analgesic & anti-inflammatory action

October 13, 2021By

…the minutes-long hallucinogenic and dissociative effects of recreational S. divinorum in humans have been described in detail. Salvia divinorum… inhibited contractions of the mouse colon, stomach, and ileum in vitro; prolonged colonic propulsion; and slowed upper GI transit in vivo by activating KOR, CB1, and interestingly by activating cannabinoid type 2 receptors (CB2). In our laboratory, we…

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Shrooms and lsd linked to lower heart disease and diabetes risk

October 13, 2021By

“The findings suggest that lifetime classic psychedelic use is associated with lower odds of having had heart disease or diabetes in the past year,” lead study author and Oxford sociologist Otto Simonsson, [said]. A team of scientists identified the unexpected trend after poring over ten years’ worth of data from the National Survey on Drug…

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Science

…do regulators and for-profit actors think about mysticism?

October 13, 2021By

For a regulating body like the FDA, researchers aiming to put a psychedelic drug and treatment through the clinical research pipeline only need to prove two things: that the drug (and its associated protocols) are safe, and that they work successfully at treating the indication they’re after. While multiple psychedelic substances are currently undergoing dozens…

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Optimal dosing for psilocybin… considering weight-adjusted and fixed dosing approaches

October 13, 2021By

Across a wide range of body weights (49kg [approx. 108lbs] to 113 kg [approx. 249lbs]) the present results showed no evidence that body weight affected subjective effects of psilocybin. In the 20 mg/70 kg and 30 mg/70 kg weight-adjusted groups, and in the fixed dose group, no significant associations were found between subjective effects and demographic variables including body weight…

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It’s time for psychedelic neuroscience to face its DMNs

October 9, 2021By

To link DMN [Default Mode Network] disintegration to a mental state as particular as ego-dissolution is to conveniently ignore years of non-psychedelic research findings. Returning to psychedelics, to claim that the DMN is the neural seat of the ego — and that its disintegration represents ego loss — is an ambitious reverse inference. To prove…

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[National Institutes of Health 2021 grant]… Structure and function of G protein-coupled receptors [GPCR] heteromeric complexes in brain

October 3, 2021By

Grant Project 5R01MH084894-12: Our published data and the preliminary data presented here support our working hypothesis that inter-family GPCR heteromerization affects structure, sub-cellular localization and function of both 5-HT2AR and mGluR2 in living mammalian cells. Our data are also consonant with the hypothesis that a single dose of hallucinogenic 5-HT2AR agonists induces fast-acting and long-lasting…

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[National Institutes of Health 2021 grant…] the neural correlates of the effects of psilocybin in OCD: randomized controlled study

October 3, 2021By

Funding from the National Institute of Health [NIH], which tends to award larger grants than philanthropists, allows researchers to delve more into the details, Johnson says. Grant Project Number 1K23MH122777-01A1: We hypothesize that psilocybin will result in increased (i.e. normalized) intra-DMN functional connectivity in OCD, and that this will correlate with any clinical change (Aim 1). Baseline…

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[National Institutes of Health 2021 grant] …psilocybin in the treatment of tobacco use disorder

October 3, 2021By

“The funding side of the government has been the last to the party for a long time,” says Matthew Johnson, who studies psychedelics at Johns Hopkins University. Grant Project Number 1U01DA052174-01A1: We hypothesize that psilocybin (compared to niacin) will cause increased biologically-confirmed 7-day point-prevalence abstinence at 12-month follow-up. Based on pilot data, we will test cognitive/psychological mediators…

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Stability of tryptamines in psilocybe… mushrooms

October 3, 2021By

…to prevent the degradation of alkaloids, the most suitable conditions were to dry the mushrooms whole and store in the dark at room temperature. Regardless of storage, rapid degradation of all tryptamines was observed in powder form. In the first month [re: powdered mushrooms] the greatest decrease occurred and through the second month the overall…

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