scispace - formally typeset
Search or ask a question
Journal ArticleDOI

Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mini-Review

TL;DR: The current state of the science's relevance to neurorehabilitation is summarized, and may act as a resource for those seeking to understand the precedence for these ongoing clinical trials into psychedelic therapeutics for treatment of brain injury.
Abstract: Objective: Brain injury due to stroke and traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the leading causes of disability. Even after engaging in an appropriate rehabilitation program, nearly half of patients with severe traumatic brain injury requiring hospitalization will be left with chronic severe disability. Despite decades of investigation, pharmacologic treatment of brain injury is still a field in its infancy, suffering from a lack of consistently proven drug regimens. Recent clinical trials have begun into the use of psychedelic therapeutics for treatment of brain injury. This brief review aims to summarize the current state of the science’s relevance to neurorehabilitation. Methods: Scoping review of all studies published related to psychedelic therapeutics and brain injury. Results: Recent in vitro, in vivo, and case report studies suggest psychedelic pharmacotherapies may radically alter the future of brain injury treatment through modulation of neuroinflammation, neuroplasticity, hippocampal neurogenesis, and brain complexity. Conclusions: Historical data on the safety of these substances could serve in effect as phase 0 and phase I studies. N,N-Dimethyltryptamine is currently undergoing clinical trials for treatment of stroke. Further phase II trials will illuminate how these promising drugs may treat brain injury, particularly TBI and reperfusion injury from stroke.

Content maybe subject to copyright    Report

Citations
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: There is considerable promise for the use of psychedelic therapy for pain, but evidence-based recommendations for the design of future studies are needed to ensure that the results of this research are truly informative as discussed by the authors .

4 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An insight is offered into how neurogenesis could be aided by nanotechnology and what plausible nanomaterials are available to culminate Neurogenesis-related neurological disorders.
Abstract: Neurogenesis encompasses the formation and development of neurons in the mammalian brain, mainly occurring in hippocampus and the olfactory system. This process is rapid, accurate, and very sensitive to the external stressors including environment, diet, age, anxiety, stress, depression, diet, and hormones. The range of stressors is big and directly impacts the generation, maturation and migration, efficacy, and myelination of the neuronal cells. The field of regenerative medicine focuses on combating the direct or indirect effects of these stressors on the process of neurogenesis, and ensures increased general and neuronal communications and functioning. Understanding the deep secrets of brain signaling and devising ways to increase drug availability is tough, considering the complexity and intricate details of the neuronal networks and signaling in the CNS. It is imperative to understand this complexity and introduce potent and efficacious ways to combat diseases. This perspective offers an insight into how neurogenesis could be aided by nanotechnology and what plausible nanomaterials are available to culminate neurogenesis-related neurological disorders. The nanomaterials are promising as they are minute, robust, and effective and help in diagnostics and therapeutics such as drug delivery, maturation and neuroprotection, neurogenesis, imaging, and neurosurgery.

2 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The potential of using optical neuroimaging with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to further explore the changes in brain activity induced by psychedelics is discussed in this paper .
Abstract: In this Outlook paper, we explain to the optical neuroimaging community as well as the psychedelic research community the great potential of using optical neuroimaging with functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to further explore the changes in brain activity induced by psychedelics. We explain why we believe now is the time to exploit the momentum of the current resurgence of research on the effects of psychedelics and the momentum of the increasing progress and popularity of the fNIRS technique to establish fNIRS in psychedelic research. With this article, we hope to contribute to this development.

2 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.
Abstract: is is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, transform, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. ©2022 Published by Scientific Scholar on behalf of Surgical Neurology International Letter to the Editor

1 citations

References
More filters
Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This study’s findings can provide practical guidelines to steer partnership programs within the academic and clinical bodies, with the aim of providing a collaborative partnership approach to clinical education.
Abstract: The aim of our systematic review was to retrieve and integrate relevant evidence related to the process of formation and implementation of the academic–service partnership, with the aim of reformin...

41,134 citations


"Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Presence of THC on urine drug screen is associated with decreased mortality in adult patients sustaining TBI (65)....

    [...]

  • ...Instead, careful regulation of the inflammatory response, Abbreviations: 5HTR, 5-HT receptors; ALS, Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; DMN, Default-mode network; DMT, N,N-Dimethyltryptamine; DOI, 2,5-dimethoxy-4iodoamphetamine; DOC, Disorder of consciousness; EEG, Electroencephalogram; fMRI, Functional magnetic resonance imaging; IL, Interleukin; LSD, Lysergic acid diethyl amide; LZC, Lempel-Ziv complexity; MAOI, Monoamine oxidase inhibitor; MCAO, Middle cerebral artery occlusion; MDMA, 3,4- methylenedioxymethamphetamine; MVF, Mirror visual feedback therapy; NFAT, Nuclear factor of activated T-cells; REM, Rapid eye movement sleep; S1R, Sigma-1 receptor; TBI, Traumatic brain injury; THC, Tetrahydrocannabinol; TLR, Toll-like receptor; TNF, Tumor necrosis factor; SOD, Superoxide dismutase. rather than blunt reduction of the response, or “single-target” approaches, is critical to improved outcomes....

    [...]

  • ...There is already mixed evidence to suggest the use of non-classical psychedelics ketamine (63, 64), as well as tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) (65, 66) and cannabidiol (67, 68), as neuroprotectants after TBI and stroke....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI

12,729 citations


"Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...In patients <12 months post stroke, MVF therapy enhances functional recovery of lower limbs and hands (43, 44)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Investigation of the effect of antidepressants on hippocampal neurogenesis in the adult rat using the thymidine analog bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) as a marker for dividing cells demonstrates that chronic antidepressant treatment significantly increases the number of BrdU-labeled cells in the dentate gyrus and hilus of the hippocampus.
Abstract: Recent studies suggest that stress-induced atrophy and loss of hippocampal neurons may contribute to the pathophysiology of depression. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of antidepressants on hippocampal neurogenesis in the adult rat, using the thymidine analog bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) as a marker for dividing cells. Our studies demonstrate that chronic antidepressant treatment significantly increases the number of BrdU-labeled cells in the dentate gyrus and hilus of the hippocampus. Administration of several different classes of antidepressant, but not non-antidepressant, agents was found to increase BrdU-labeled cell number, indicating that this is a common and selective action of antidepressants. In addition, upregulation of the number of BrdU-labeled cells is observed after chronic, but not acute, treatment, consistent with the time course for the therapeutic action of antidepressants. Additional studies demonstrated that antidepressant treatment increases the proliferation of hippocampal cells and that these new cells mature and become neurons, as determined by triple labeling for BrdU and neuronal- or glial-specific markers. These findings raise the possibility that increased cell proliferation and increased neuronal number may be a mechanism by which antidepressant treatment overcomes the stress-induced atrophy and loss of hippocampal neurons and may contribute to the therapeutic actions of antidepressant treatment.

3,053 citations


"Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Though many factors are implicated in hippocampal neurogenesis, one of the most important is 5HTR stimulation (33, 34)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
15 Mar 2001-Nature
TL;DR: It is shown that a substantial reduction in the number of newly generated neurons in the adult rat impairs hippocampal-dependent trace conditioning, a task in which an animal must associate stimuli that are separated in time.
Abstract: The vertebrate brain continues to produce new neurons throughout life. In the rat hippocampus, several thousand are produced each day, many of which die within weeks. Associative learning can enhance their survival; however, until now it was unknown whether new neurons are involved in memory formation. Here we show that a substantial reduction in the number of newly generated neurons in the adult rat impairs hippocampal-dependent trace conditioning, a task in which an animal must associate stimuli that are separated in time. A similar reduction did not affect learning when the same stimuli are not separated in time, a task that is hippocampal-independent. The reduction in neurogenesis did not induce death of mature hippocampal neurons or permanently alter neurophysiological properties of the CA1 region, such as long-term potentiation. Moreover, recovery of cell production was associated with the ability to acquire trace memories. These results indicate that newly generated neurons in the adult are not only affected by the formation of a hippocampal-dependent memory, but also participate in it.

2,024 citations


"Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...While hippocampal neurogenesis after TBI is implicated in improved cognition, relief from depressed mood, and encoding of episodic memory, it is also associated with pro-epileptogenic changes and spatial memory impairment (29, 31, 32)....

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This work endeavored to contrast experimental efficacy and scope of testing of drugs used clinically and those tested only experimentally.
Abstract: Objective: Preclinical evaluation of neuroprotectants fostered high expectations of clinical efficacy. When not matched, the question arises whether experiments are poor indicators of clinical outcome or whether the best drugs were not taken forward to clinical trial. Therefore, we endeavored to contrast experimental efficacy and scope of testing of drugs used clinically and those tested only experimentally. Methods: We identified neuroprotectants and reports of experimental efficacy via a systematic search. Controlled in vivo and in vitro experiments using functional or histological end points were selected for analysis. Relationships between outcome, drug mechanism, scope of testing, and clinical trial status were assessed statistically. Results: There was no evidence that drugs used clinically (114 drugs) were more effective experimentally than those tested only in animal models (912 drugs), for example, improvement in focal models averaged 31.3 16.7% versus 24.4 32.9%, p > 0.05, respectively. Scope of testing using Stroke Therapy Academic Industry Roundtable (STAIR) criteria was highly variable, and no relationship was found between mechanism and efficacy. Interpretation: The results question whether the most efficacious drugs are being selected for stroke clinical trials. This may partially explain the slow progress in developing treatments. Greater rigor in the conduct, reporting, and analysis of animal data will improve the transition of scientific advances from bench to bedside. Ann Neurol 2006;59:467– 477 A common perception of neuroprotection research is that everything works in animals but nothing works in people. This perception has been reinforced again and again by reports of unsuccessful or mixed outcomes in trials of candidate neuroprotectants in acute stroke patients. If animal experiments are indeed unable to inform clinical decision making, then serious doubts are raised about the utility of animal models of stroke and about the ethics of continuing current animal experimentation practices. 1 In response to this challenge, several excellent reviews and commentaries have tackled the issue of the apparent failure to translate neuroprotection successes from the laboratory to the clinical setting (for examples, see previously published studies 2–7 ). Such com

1,285 citations


"Psychedelics for Brain Injury: A Mi..." refers background in this paper

  • ...Though these are a novel class of drugs deserving close study, more data are necessary to prove their efficacy for treatment of brain injury, as historically many compounds have seemed promising in vitro, including likely hundreds of compounds thought to facilitate neuroplasticity and neuroprotection, but have not borne out in clinical trials (61, 62)....

    [...]