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IMAGE: This is a representative image of cultured dissociated hippocampal neurons transiently expressing psychLight1 and psychLight2. Scale bar, 20 mm. view more
Credit: Calvin Ly
Psychedelic drugs have shown promise for treating neuropsychiatric disorders such as depression and posttraumatic stress disorder. However, due to their hallucinatory side effects, some researchers are trying to identify drugs that could offer the benefits of psychedelics without causing hallucinations. In the journal
Cell on April 28, researchers report they have identified one such drug through the development of a genetically encoded fluorescent sensor called psychLight that can screen for hallucinogenic potential by indicating when a compound activates the serotonin 2A receptor.
A non-hallucinogenic version of the psychedelic drug ibogaine has potential for treating addiction, depression, and other psychiatric disorders, research with mice suggests.
“Psychedelics are some of the most powerful drugs we know of that affect the brain,” says David Olson, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of California, Davis, and senior author of the paper in
Nature. “It’s unbelievable how little we know about them.”
Ibogaine is extracted from the plant
Tabernanthe iboga. There are anecdotal reports that it can have powerful anti-addiction effects such as reducing drug cravings and preventing relapse. But there are also serious side-effects, including hallucinations and cardiac toxicity, and the drug is a Schedule 1 controlled substance under US law.