“Psilocybin induced changes in approximate entropy and microstates predict long term positive effects on mood in healthy volunteers”
Presenting author: Tomas Palenicek¹,²
Co-authors: Juliana Knocikova¹, Nikola Jajcay¹, Vlastimil Koudelka¹, Jaroslav Hlinka¹, Jiri Horacek¹,², Filip Tyls¹,², Jakub Korcak¹, Martin Brunovsky¹,²
¹ National Institute of Mental Health, Klecany, Czech Republic;
² 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
² 3rd Faculty of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic.
Abstract
Psilocybin is in the centre of interest of current psychiatric research as potential therapeutic tool for several neuropsychological disorders, with largest clinical impact seen in treatment of depression. Psilocybin is a psychedelic drug that acts as a serotonin receptor agonist with predominant activity at 5-HT2A/C and 5-HT1A receptors. It has been shown to induce high entropy state in the brain, overall hyper-connectivity with decreased integrity of large scale networks. Studies in depressed patients depicted biomarkers that link antidepressant action of psilocybin to changes in connectivity of medial prefrontal cortex with parahippocampal gyrus and changes in the activity of amygdala. In this presentation data from healthy volunteer study treated acutely with psilocybin 0.26 mg/kg will be presented. In order to characterize the acute effects of psilocybin, a scale describing phenomenology of psilocybin´s effects (The altered state of consciousness scale (ASCs)) along with two descriptors of brain activity: 1) approximate entropy mapped on the surface of the brain and 2) microstate analysis will be shown. These metrics will be used to as potential biomarkers explaining long-lasting positive effects of psilocybin experience evaluated by persisting effects scale at 28 days after dosing.
Psilocybin is in the centre of interest of current psychiatric research as potential therapeutic tool for several neuropsychological disorders, with largest clinical impact seen in treatment of depression. Psilocybin is a psychedelic drug that acts as a serotonin receptor agonist with predominant activity at 5-HT2A/C and 5-HT1A receptors. It has been shown to induce high entropy state in the brain, overall hyper-connectivity with decreased integrity of large scale networks. Studies in depressed patients depicted biomarkers that link antidepressant action of psilocybin to changes in connectivity of medial prefrontal cortex with parahippocampal gyrus and changes in the activity of amygdala. In this presentation data from healthy volunteer study treated acutely with psilocybin 0.26 mg/kg will be presented. In order to characterize the acute effects of psilocybin, a scale describing phenomenology of psilocybin´s effects (The altered state of consciousness scale (ASCs)) along with two descriptors of brain activity: 1) approximate entropy mapped on the surface of the brain and 2) microstate analysis will be shown. These metrics will be used to as potential biomarkers explaining long-lasting positive effects of psilocybin experience evaluated by persisting effects scale at 28 days after dosing.
Acknowledgment
This work was supported by projects from Czech Science Foundation (projects 18-16218S and 20-25349S), Czech Health Research Council (projects 17-31852A and NU21-04-00307), Long-term conceptual development of research organization (RVO 00023752) and Specific University Research, Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (project 260533/SVV/2021).
This work was supported by projects from Czech Science Foundation (projects 18-16218S and 20-25349S), Czech Health Research Council (projects 17-31852A and NU21-04-00307), Long-term conceptual development of research organization (RVO 00023752) and Specific University Research, Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports (project 260533/SVV/2021).
Conflict of interests:
TP, FT, JH, and MB declares having shares in “Psyon s.r.o.”, are founders and/or members of scientific board of the “PSYRES - Psychedelic Research Foundation”. TP, MB has shares in “Společnost pro podporu neurovědního výzkumu s.r.o”. TP reports consulting fees from GH Research and CB21-Pharma outside the submitted work. TP, FT, MB, JH are involved in Compass Pathways trials with psilocybin and the MAPS clinical trial with MDMA outside the submitted work. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.
TP, FT, JH, and MB declares having shares in “Psyon s.r.o.”, are founders and/or members of scientific board of the “PSYRES - Psychedelic Research Foundation”. TP, MB has shares in “Společnost pro podporu neurovědního výzkumu s.r.o”. TP reports consulting fees from GH Research and CB21-Pharma outside the submitted work. TP, FT, MB, JH are involved in Compass Pathways trials with psilocybin and the MAPS clinical trial with MDMA outside the submitted work. The other authors declare no conflicts of interest.