Molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the antidepressant effects of ketamine enantiomers and its metabolites Chun Yang, Jianjun Yang, Ailin Luo and Kenji Hashimoto Translational Psychiatry, 2019, 9, 280 doi : 10.1038/s41398-019-0624-1 Abstract Although the robust antidepressant effects of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonist ketamine in patients with treatment-resistant depression are beyond doubt, the precise molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying its antidepressant effects remain unknown. NMDAR inhibition and the subsequent α-amino-3-hydroxy-5- methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic acid receptor (AMPAR) activation are suggested to play a role in the antidepressant effects of ketamine. Although (R)-ketamine is a less potent NMDAR antagonist than (S)-ketamine, (R)-ketamine has shown more marked and longer-lasting antidepressant-like [...]
Lire la suitePsychedelics & Cannabis Therapeutics Martin A. Lee April 17, 2019 https://www.projectcbd.org/culture/psychedelics-cannabis-therapeutics High doses of THC are hallucinogenic, and microdosing LSD is a lot like CBD. These mighty molecules can relieve human suffering and they act through the endocannabinoid system. Although it may not be obvious during these Trump-rattled times, we’re in the midst of a psychedelic revival. There is more interest than ever before in experimenting with LSD, magic mushrooms, ayahuasca, ketamine, and other psychedelic drugs. This renaissance is happening without all the fanfare of the day-glo Sixties, when lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) escaped from the laboratory and assumed the lead role in an improbable [...]
Lire la suiteLa FDA accélère la recherche sur la psilocybine pour les troubles dépressifs majeurs Aurélien Bernard Newsweed, 28 novembre 2019 https://www.newsweed.fr/fda-accelere-recherche-psilocybine-depression/ La Food and Drug Administration (FDA) a catégorisé les champignons hallucinogènes en tant que « thérapie révolutionnaire » pour les troubles dépressifs majeurs (MDD), une démarche qui accélérera la recherche de nouveaux médicaments à partir de psilocybine. Cette classification a été créée en 2012 pour encadrer les recherches et le développement produit de médicaments à partir de susbtances ayant un potentiel fort par rapport aux options existantes et pour des patients atteints de maladie grave ou qui met leur vie en danger. La première recherche [...]
Lire la suitePsychedelics : Where we are now, why we got here, what we must do Sean J. Belouin, Jack E. Henningfield Neuropharmacology, 2018, 142, 7e19 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2018.02.018 a b s t r a c t The purpose of this commentary is to provide an introduction to this special issue of Neuropharmacology with a historical perspective of psychedelic drug research, their use in psychiatric disorders, research restricting regulatory controls, and their recent emergence as potential breakthrough therapies for several brain-related disorders. It begins with the discovery of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) and its promising development as a treatment for several types of mental illnesses during the 1940s. This was [...]
Lire la suitePsychiatry & the psychedelic drugs. Past, present & future James J.H. Rucker, Jonathan Iliff, David J. Nutt Neuropharmacology, 2018, 142, 200e218 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2017.12.040 a b s t r a c t The classical psychedelic drugs, including psilocybin, lysergic acid diethylamide and mescaline, were used extensively in psychiatry before they were placed in Schedule I of the UN Convention on Drugs in 1967. Experimentation and clinical trials undertaken prior to legal sanction suggest that they are not helpful for those with established psychotic disorders and should be avoided in those liable to develop them. However, those with so-called ‘psychoneurotic’ disorders sometimes benefited considerably from their tendency to [...]
Lire la suiteTribune pour l’expérimentation des psychédéliques en médecine, contre la dépression, l’anxiété, les addictions et pour les soins palliatifs. Société Psychédélique Française, novembre 2019 D’après l’Organisation mondiale de la santé, une personne sur quatre dans le monde sera affectée à un moment donné de sa vie par des troubles mentaux ou neurologiques. Or, après des décennies d’oubli, nous assistons en dehors de nos frontières à un regain de la recherche clinique psychothérapeutique sur les psychédéliques et au développement de thérapies novatrices impliquant ces substances. Les psychédéliques sont des composés, issus du monde vivant ou de la chimie, provoquant des effets analogues sur le psychisme [...]
Lire la suiteChapter 8 : Pilgrimage to the Light ? On the Threshold of a Dream: Sacred Plants, Passionate Dedication to Ideals, and Healing Richard Yensen January 2015 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/282132139 The desire to incorporate ancient healing practices with sacred plants into modern medicine has been a central passion of my career as a clinician and psychedelic researcher for over 40 years. During that time Mexico has offered me friendship, collegiality, adventure, and wonder. At times I have felt when visiting first Nations in Mexico like I was stepping back into ancient times. The wonder and honor of knowing Maria Sabina, Don Ricardo, Niuweme, and other healers and [...]
Lire la suiteCalifornia Psilocybin Decriminalization Initiative The Beckley Foundation is proud to announce its partnership with Decriminalize California (the California Psilocybin Decriminalization Initiative 2020), an open-source citizens’ initiative which would: legalize psilocybin mushrooms and their extracts and derivatives for therapeutic and medical use, and decriminalize it for personal, spiritual and religious use; allowing people to cultivate and use psilocybin mushrooms in their own home and on privately-owned property; and enabling those convicted of psilocybin-related crimes to have their sentences reviewed and, when appropriate, have their criminal records expunged. You can read the full press release here. The initiative decriminalizes psilocybin use by adults aged 18+. [...]
Lire la suiteResearch ethics aspects of experimentation with LSD on human subjects : a historical and ethical review Bodnár Kristóf János, Kakuk Péter Medicine, Health Care and Philosophy © Springer Nature B.V. 2018 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11019-018-9871-9 Abstract In this paper our aim is to examine whether research conducted on human participants with LSD-25 (lysergic acid diethylamide) raises unique research ethical questions or demands particular concerns with regard to the design, conduct and follow-up of these studies, and should this be the case, explore and describe those issues. Our analysis is based on reviewing publications up to date which examine the clinical, research and other uses of LSD and those addressing [...]
Lire la suiteThe Varieties of Psychedelic Epistemology Chris Letheby Published in N. Wyrd, D. Luke, A. Tollan, C. Adams, and D. King (eds.) : "Psychedelicacies: more food for thought from Breaking Convention", Strange Attractor Press, 2019. INTRODUCTION Is it possible to gain knowledge1 by taking psychedelic2 drugs? One influential answer is ‘yes’: according to this conception, by inducing mystical states of consciousness, psychedelics afford direct knowledge of supernatural, transcendent dimensions of reality. This is an entheogenic conception of the drugs as agents that “generate the divine within”. A second influential answer is ‘no’: since materialism or physicalism3 is true, there are no transcendent realities, and psychedelics [...]
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