WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Researchers at Penn Medicine have found specific brain circuits affected by psilocybin, the active compound in certain psychedelic mushrooms, opening new ways to treat pain and mental health issues.
The new study, published in Nature Neuroscience by the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, sheds light on how this link between chronic pain and depression might be broken.
The team studied two mouse models of chronic pain - one caused by nerve injury and another by inflammation. These mice also developed behaviors similar to anxiety and depression.
Four weeks later, the researchers gave the mice psilocybin. The next day, the animals showed less pain sensitivity and improvements in mood. These benefits lasted for 12 days, until the study ended.
To pinpoint where psilocybin worked, the researchers tested its active form, psilocin, by injecting it either into the brain or the spinal nerve. Only brain injections produced pain relief and mood improvements. Further study showed that psilocin calmed overactive neurons in the brain region linked to pain and emotions, bringing their activity down to normal levels.
Psilocin works by binding to serotonin receptors. To find out which receptors were responsible, the team blocked two of them. When they did, psilocin no longer relieved pain or improved mood.
'This new study offers hope. These findings open the door to developing new, non-opioid, non-addictive therapies, as psilocybin and related psychedelics are not considered addictive,' senior author Joseph Cichon noted.
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