From
Medscape Today:
A new imaging study supports a growing body of evidence that the hallucinogen
psilocybin, the active ingredient in 'magic mushrooms', may have potential in the treatment of depression, anxiety, and possibly cluster headaches.
A study of 30 healthy volunteers showed decreased brain blood flow and venous oxygenation in the cingulate cortex and the medial prefrontal cortex after the participants received intravenous injections of psilocybin.
"We were surprised because we thought that psilocybin was going to increase brain activity in regions like the visual cortex, which would explain the visual changes. But it actually switched off certain areas," coinvestigator David J. Nutt, FMedSci, psychiatrist and professor of neuropsychopharmacology at the Imperial College London, told Medscape Medical News.
"Remarkably, the decreases were localized to important connector hubs in the brain that serve as key junctions for information transfers. Knocking out these key hubs with psilocybin appears to allow information to travel more freely, probably explaining why people's imaginations become more vivid and animated and the world is experienced as unusual," added lead author Robin Carhart-Harris, PhD, also from the Neuropsychopharmacology Unit at Imperial College London.
He noted that these areas of the brain are known to be overactive in patients with depression and that antidepressants, psychotherapy, and even meditation are used to bring the activity in these regions "back to normal."
Dr. Carhart-Harris said that although the study's results are preliminary and that more research is needed before definitive claims can be made about the therapeutic value of psychedelics, "the initial signs are promising."
The study was published online January 23 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.